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Success Stories....
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LOGAN
The little boy with the big heart arrived on this earth on June 7, 1995. His soon to be human family, Dave and Marny Temple, officially met him when he was 10 days old and tho, at that time, they weren’t sure Lo was to be ‘their’ puppy, but of the four little boys, there was a connection of the heart that could not be denied!! Lo came to Wilmington at eight weeks of age and with his twinkling eyes and gentle ways, he established his place in the pack - right from the start – fur child and love bug for all humans, buddy to GR Amber and his self appointed role of “gentleman’s gentleman”.
He started Obedience Classes as soon as he was old enough and tho not flashy, he humbly did his best, evoking comments from fellow classmates (human halves) that all his handler had to do was give Lo the handout of “how to do’s”, let him thumb (hmmm, no thumbs, perhaps ‘paw’ is the better word) thru it and he ‘had it’!!
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| Tho his Mom had loved and lived with Goldens since she was 11 years old, this wonderful boy turned her on to the joys of having those special times of training and working with one’s dogs in a class setting! And she credits this boy with leading her along the path of appreciating the bonding and progress that comes from a team working and playing together! Logan is the reason why Marny was inspired to overcome her "ring nerves" and why she went on to become an instructor, in obedience, agility and rally at Azalea Dog Training Club, where Lo's long love affair with a grand group of dogs and their humans continues to date! | ||
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Lo earned his Canine Good Citizen Certification at eight months, followed by his Therapy Dogs, Inc. Certification at one year! Through the many years of Therapy Work, one of the most moving memories is of Logan’s special relationship with one of the ladies at an Assisted Care Facility who ‘trained’ him every visit! Lo, a true Obedience dog in that he looks to his ‘real’ handler when given a command by someone else, would sweetly humor this lady, pretending to listen to her commands, while looking for his Mom’s hand signals on each command!! Lo’s friend was always so pleased that Logan was “coming along so nicely” with his training and she loved the ohhh’s and ahhh’s from her friends!
At 18 months, Logan hit his first bump in the road of life, with a diagnosis of bowed femurs and the prognosis of being severely crippled within a short time – with surgery “maybe” helping. His family was devastated and tried to baby him by giving his ‘couch potato’ status, but that broke his heart, so back to classes he went, with careful monitoring of his activities. During this time, Logan became known as “the little Engine that could” and he earned his Companion Dog Title in three trials at age three! | ||
| With CD behind his name, again, Lo’s family encouraged him to retire from the Ring and just enjoy life being a loved and valued member of his family; his therapy work, helping raise Boo (a young’un at the time). While he enjoyed all these things, he still would get excited on Thursdays (class night) and sit and stare hopefully into his Mom’s eyes, willing her to take him to class! His gentle persistence paid off and back to class he went, as he continued on, helping Mom learn how to handle for ‘Open’ work. And tho he tried to get a CDX leg or two, those 24 inch jumps were just too challenging for him, so his purpose became to be a “Demo Dog Extradinaire”, helping to inspire many teams to “go for their personal bests”! | |
| At age 10, Logan suffered thru an incident of Vestibular Syndrome, but was able to bounce back from that thankfully! A few months later, while “supervising a Rally Class” from the side lines, his sad eyes clearly saying he wanted to be included, his Mom started letting him work a little bit and soon he was excelling at the tasks and loving every minute of it!! Boo started trialing and there was never a question that Lo would be given the opportunity to have fun road trips as well!! This precious soul earned his Rally Excellent Title in 9 trials! Everyone who knows Lo is well aware that every one of his titles is a tribute to his own great spirit and his love of and devotion to his family. | ||
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The year 2006 proved to hold more health challenges for ‘the little engine that could’; Megaesphagus, diagnosed in May and a dislocated hip in September. Either condition could have caused Logan to be ‘disabled’, but with his gentle and yet determined manner and the love of his family, Logan kept on proving the vets wrong.
Due to Logan’s parents having a friend who’s pupster had dealt with MegaE, they immediately turned to them for help and were encouraged to go online and join the group of folks who were knowledgeable about this condition. One of their local Vets, tho never having seen a case, welcomed any and all information to add to her file so she could understand MegaE and thus help Logan and future sufferers. |
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As all “parents” of pups with the MegaE condition learn early on, feeding the ‘patient’ in an upright position, ideally something on the order of the “Bailey Chair”, is a must! Well, right from the start, his family knew this was not an option for Logan. Due to the long time condition of his bowed femurs, and arthritis caused there from, there was no way that Logan could handle this type of upright feeding. So, his family modified the preferred method, having Lo sit as straight and tall as he was able and eat in that position, then before Lo got up, he sat there for the recommended time while being patted and massaged to past the time and turn the “recommended treatment” into a pleasurable, special time for him, rather than an unpleasant chore.
As time when on, it was found that Lo could eat what was called his “smoothie” meal from his raised feeder (where he always had…. ‘normalcy’, what a sweet word!), immediately afterward, he would take a short, slow ‘walk about’ and then get his special patting/massage time afterwards. This method has worked well for Logan since Lo and his loved ones began this journey living with MegaE. | ||
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Lo’s water intake is carefully monitored, with him drinking only a few laps at a time and then sitting for patting for just a few short minutes.
After initially trying several different feeding methods, Lo’s family found that eating his Innova Senior kibble, blended/ puréed (the end product is a semi formed, wet, but not watery consistency) worked well for him! His “treats” are blended the same way and when he is training or otherwise working, he gets a spoonful of “smoothie treat” for his trouble!! Logan also takes Holistic supplements including the following:
And Lo takes meds for his arthritis pain, as well. All his meds/supplements are taken in two separate halves of a slice of bread spread with peanut butter (Lo says ‘nectar of the gods!’) and closed over the pills and/or power. He gobbles the sandwich down and then he eats his meal and the smoothie seems to push the sandwich down and all is well. He’s happy he got his beloved peanut butter sangie, his family is happy he got his meds and was happy to take them!! Win-win situation! Logan handled the MegaE nicely for 15 months and suddenly he developed Aspiration Pneumonia! Luckily, at this point, his local vet, Dr. Amy, was 150% behind him and very open to hearing about suggestions made on the MegaE list and learning from the folks in the trenches, what worked and what didn’t work. Lo took antibiotics for two weeks and we thought he was over the AP. Two weeks off meds, and he had AP again (probably more like he didn’t get over it the first time, simply that once off antibiotics, it came roaring back with a vengeance). This time under Dr. Kathy, the wonderful woman Lo’s Mom had ‘met’ on the MegaE list suggested a longer period of antibiotics, which was done. This time Lo stayed well for about a month and suddenly, he had AP again. His family’s hopes really dimmed for his wellbeing at this stage. Again, Dr. Kathy guided them along in this battle for Logan’s life; adding in treatments of Albuteral and Saline a couple of times per day to help get rid of the AP AND once the AP was gone, daily as a preventative. Lo’s family is happy to report that it is now (March ’08) three months since Lo has had AP… so, they are hopeful they have found the formula that works for Lo to keep him from developing this condition that tries to steal him away from them! | ||
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Logan and his family are looking forward to this sweet man’s 13th birthday in June! In his family’s opinion, Lo is a shining example of what every person dreams of when they bring a Golden Retriever into their lives and hearts! Every day with him is a gift and his imprinting on baby sister, Glory, just makes us smile!! Logan has taught us all a simple, yet profound thing: "Some folks have, some have not ..... What matters most is what you do with what you've got!!". In short, he lives the lesson that you don’t have to BE ‘the best’ to DO your best – just grab life with both hands (paws), say wahooo and enjoy! |
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