Olive

I never thought I would be typing this with a smile in my heart. Olive is no longer with us. For those of you who knew and loved Olive as we did are probably wondering what in the world?! Olive had one of the sweetest dispositions of any dog I think I've ever met. I don't think she ever met a person she wasn't madly in love with. She tolerated Maddy & Reagan playing with her, putting stickers on her, and even taking food from her.:) She just loved having their attention. She was a wonderful dog. We got Olive as a tiny little puppy as you can see in the pictures & had her for three great years. She had an eye condition in her left eye called "dry eye" from an early age. Every day, she sat patiently while we cleaned out her eye and put her drops in. I think she knew we were helping her.

Recently (about 3 weeks ago), Olive got sick from something. The doctors did x rays and bloodwork thinking she was having some problems with her organs and possibly a foreign body stuck in her digestive system. They were unable to find anything, and with the help that they gave us, she started to feel better. Unfortunately, we spent quite a bit of money trying to help her. As she was still recovering from the tummy ache, she developed another problem. It seemed to us that she was having extreme neck issues. It started as just her yelping occassionally, and progressed very quickly. She was in extreme pain. We were really nervous about this because, we knew we could not afford any more outrageous vet bills, especially not even knowing yet what the problem was. We did go back and forth to the vet a few times & they agreed that she did not look good at all. We explained our situation and they agreed to give her some medication that might help the problem. We took the medication and prayed for the best. In the meantime, I was trying to find a home for Olive that could afford to figure out what was wrong and help her. I was unable to find anything, even with the help of the SPCA and Animal Control. They said that they would have to put her to sleep because of her state.

Our final trip to our vet's office was this past Saturday. They were doing a check up on her while the cats had their annual shots. They told us that they were very worried because she didn't seem to be responding to the drugs. Keep in mind, the past three weeks, Olive has hardly barked, and has been as still as I've ever seen her. She didn't get excited when we had company, she was hiding under our bed most of the day, and yelping off and on for no apparent reason. She was shaking a lot and always hunched over. The vet suggested that she might have a slipped disc, back issues, meningitis, or even cancer. They recommended x, y, and z, all of which we could not afford. Matt told them that we would have to put her to sleep because we couldn't help her, but we couldn't let her suffer either. They completely understood.

We took her home that Saturday morning with an increased dosage of the drugs. We were going to give it just a little more time. Within the same afternoon, Olive just got worse. I couldn't stand to see her that way. Our vets office was closed for the rest of the weekend, so it was either wait until Monday so that we could save $100 or call the emergency clinic and pay to have her put down. We decided that sooner was better than later. With tears in our eyes, we gathered Olive in her little Lufthansa blanket from her trip home from Germany and told Maddy to say good bye (I know, HARD!).

We arrived at the clinic and they took her to the back. We had to do all of the paperwork and pay first so that after we put her to sleep, we could just take her and leave. My heart was pounding out of my chest and I was nervous, sad, plus a million other emotions. What got me the most was that she was only 3 years old. But, we've been told that good dog breeds often have bad genetic problems because the breeder was inexperienced, etc. Makes sense. Even the lady taking our money almost started to cry as we walked back to be with Olive as they put her to sleep. (Are you crying yet?) We sit down in the room & wait. It is empty.

Within a few minutes, the doctor walks in, without Olive and starts to talk to us. She tells us that she has experience with dauschounds specifically and noticed that Olive had a longer neck than the normal dauschound and was relatively sure that the issue was spine related. She thought that with a little time, drugs, and regular chiropractic work, Olive could recover and be a happy dog. I'm sitting there, still sad, thinking, "that's great, but we don't have the money to justify weekly chiropractic visits for our dog -- for the rest of her life! We can't even do that for ourselves". She proceeds to ask about Olive's eye. We told her that she has dry eye. And then.... she said that she has a dauschound at home who is missing her left eye & that she has a soft spot for Olive because she is a dauschound and has a bad eye. She asks us if we would be willing to sign ownership of Olive over to her rather than put her to sleep!

I started crying tears of joy! I'm thinking, are you serious? Without question, YES! I couldn't believe my ears! After all of this time trying to figure out a solution and find a home for Olive who could afford to help her, we take her and pay for her to be put to sleep, and the doctor that happens to be working that shift wants to have Olive as her own pet! That's a miracle if you ask me! So, I told her she wouldn't regret it and that she would love Olive! I told her that again, we don't know if it is truly a spine issue, etc. She assured us that if the problem was a disease that would make Olive miserable, she would put her to sleep herself rather than allow her to suffer. But, how perfect that worked out! The lady is a chiropractor for dogs! She did an adjustment to her before we even left.

So, we said our good byes to Olive and went home and gathered her drugs and other things and brought them back to the clinic to give to Dr. Gritz. I saw her one last time when I dropped the things off and of course I was sad, but I was also thrilled that Olive has a second chance! And, if there is a tumor or something else, this doctor can probably afford to treat Olive herself and still give her a long life. She said her husband was going to kill her for bringing her home, but that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission.:) YAY! We exhanged e-mail addresses, etc. and are waiting to hear from her. I will definitely let you know how Olive fairs with some chiropractic work, etc. She hadn't shown any improvement that night, but she was in pretty bad shape. So, I'm hoping she makes a full recovery.

We miss Olive SO much, but know that she will be so happy in her new home. They have a 2 year old and a 4 year old, four other dogs, chickens, cats, etc. and 32 acres with a doggie door! Olive will be in heaven.:) There are reminders everywhere about Olive, but with time, we will get used to it. Hopefully we will have word sometime this week about her progress! God had the perfect plan all along.