The Guest Dog

Little Ollie is the baby dog of our three schnoodles, all rescues. He has more poodle and less schnauzer, whereas Fitz has more schnauzer and less poodle. Boo Radley is the truest 50/50 blend. Ollie happened when my grandson visited and both our dogs piled in our bed with us at bedtime.

Which one can sleep with me? he’d asked.

Neither Boo Radley nor Fitz was about to sleep anywhere other than with us, so my grandson pleaded his case. Nana, you need a guest dog.

We’d been looking for another rescue since my father ended up with Kona, the 6-month old female schnoodle puppy we’d found needing a home in Florida. We drove to Valdosta to meet the one surrendering her, and I so badly wanted to keep her. But Dad, too, needed a dog in all his grief, and Kona brought him so much joy.

With rescues, you never know what might be lurking beneath the surface – emotionally with trauma or physically with health. Certain breeds have predispositions to particular illnesses and conditions. Poodles, for example, have sensitive skin and often itch, needing a spray of apple cider vinegar. Boo Radley’s stomach gets inflamed like that. Each of our dogs has some trauma in their background, too, making a home without children present most of the time a preferred home for them.

Fitz has had more issues than both of the others, combined. He came to us from a foster mom who had nursed him back after a badly broken leg (with road rash) that the vet managed to save. Then he had a cyst on his back that needed removing. Then he developed CUPS ~ Canine Periodontal Ulcerative Syndrome, a condition that causes painful gum ulcers on reaction with the plaque on his teeth. His breath smells like a rotting goat carcass when it flares up, but we keep right on loving him through his pain and maladies. And that is what it takes with all dogs, but particularly with rescues. Unconditional love for the long haul.

Which brings me to Ollie. What we thought was a breed-common poodle allergy settling in the eyes got more pronounced and didn’t clear up after a few days as his normally did. One eye started looking like it had a whitish film over the top, making him look like a blind soothsayer in a Shakespeare play. I called the vet and got the first available appointment the next day.

The vet took one look, and I saw his brow furrow. He seemed perplexed.

Step around here so you can see, he urged. I stepped around the young vet technician holding Ollie in place so Dr Kelly could do his work.

There’s an auto immune eye condition that affects German Shepherds called Pannus that causes this same whitening with blood vessels over the cornea, he explained. Usually, though, that one forms from side to side. This one is forming top to bottom in both eyes.

When it came time for the diagnosis, Dr. Kelly gave me the choice of going straight to the Veterinary Ophthalmologist or treating the condition as he would treat Pannus and see if it would respond. Before I made my decision, I asked if there was any chance that whatever this was could be contagious. He assured me it would not affect the other dogs. I was in great part relieved that we would not have to quarantine Ollie (he despises being alone), and I also was relieved that boarding him for an upcoming trip to my grandson’s first birthday, though not preferred, was not out of the question.

I decided to try the Pannus eyedrop regimen to give it a chance to respond. Four drops a day in each eye, with a recheck in four days. I booked a dog-friendly AirBNB for our upcoming trip and decided to cut the adventure shorter than I normally would have done.

And the drops began that day. The next morning, there wasn’t much change. By the following day, we could see a break in the clouds. By Monday afternoon at 1:00, we had a different dog. His eyes were open and the film and vessels had receded back up into the top of the eye. He was chasing his ball again – – and actually finding it.

Although we will probably have to keep him on eyedrops for the rest of his life, we’re relieved that our guest dog is going to be okay. When we adopted Ollie, on Gotcha Day, the foster mom told us that three other families had come to see him and had walked away. I don’t know what they saw that we didn’t see, but I am thankful that we saw something they didn’t. A dog who needed love, and a family there to welcome him with the hearts to give it.

In the Photo Below