Mr. Winston
Our newest puppy, we got Winston two weeks ago next Tuesday. It’s been hard to be around him because his smell fills a room. I have next to no sense of smell and I have been like that since I was a kid. We will just say there are few things I can truly smell and at the moment Winston is the big one. He had to be fixed before we could bring him home. Let me back up and share his Origin story.
I needed to get out of the house and wanted to do something meaningful. So I gifted my time to the local dog shelter. I go most Tuesdays from 12 to 2 pm. Two weeks ago the shelter was packed and they had to make ready for a truckload of dogs coming in from another shelter. I was there when the truck got there and my eyes connected with this little apricot fluff ball. He was in a cage for transport with his two siblings, a boy, and a girl.
My favorite breed of dog is a poodle, I just love their curly fur and tails. When I first saw Mr. Winston his eyes were glassed over. He did not make a single peep, not one bark. He is only four months old so I thought this was telling of the kind of personality he may have when he gets older. I just had a feeling like this puppy need me and he is going to be the quiet stalwart type.
I told the ladies behind the desk that I was going to try and adopt him, however, Nick (my husband) needed to meet Winston first. I called him up and believe me when I say it is uncommon for Nick to be able to cancel or move meetings around on short notice. But, I called him up and told him to get his butt down to the shelter to meet a special little guy. I put this very smelly quiet beautiful little puppy in his arms when he got there and that was it.
We paid around 300 for our adoption of Winston. That was such a good price because it covered, him getting fixed and all his shots. We paid the fee and were told that it would most likely be on Friday before we could take him home. However, around 6:30, 30 minutes before the shelter closed for the night, I got a call. The vet was able to get Winston in and do the surgery that day. I was told if we could get there asap we could take him home.
We got him home so quickly and the shelter was so full that poor Mr. Winston didn’t get a bath before he went in for surgery. He was so filthy touching him made my skin itch. When we picked him up we got 4 days of pain meds, instructions to not bathe him for at least 14 days, and that he needed to take it easy. He had feces in the hair on his legs and was so scared he would not let me brush it out.
For the first couple of days, we let him sleep most of the day in his kennel. It was easy because that is what he wanted to do. Around day 5 he started to perk up and wanted to spend more time out of his kennel. In the short term to deal with the smell I called the groomers at pet smart. We set up an appointment for Mr. Winston and got some pro advice. The groomer recommended a kind of foaming shampoo that you would spray on and brush out. It helped keep the smell down, however, the foaming shampoo only worked for about two days at a time. After that, I would need to re-apply.
Toward the end of week two, I did give him a makeshift sponge bath, using a wet washcloth rubbed over him like I was petting him. The water in my bucket was light brown after just a couple of minutes. I avoided his incision area, but I could tell that he was feeling so much better with just that little bit. Next week Friday I am going to be taking Winston to our vet because when he walks he wobbles and is so week you can just push him over. I need to get advice on how to feed him to make sure he is getting the right nutrition.
Man oh man is this little guy is smart! I saw Winston in an argument with Mr. Vinny about who was going to get the ball. Winston pulls a fast one on Mr. Vinny by yelping loudly “faking an injury”. The little guy squawked so loud it spook Vinny, then Winston pretended to limp around. Vinny dropped the ball and Winston fake hobbled up to it and picked it up. I grabbed it from him and through it to see what he would do, and sure enough, the little smarty ran after it like nothing ever happened.
I know I need to do some kind of exercise and/or stretches to strengthen his hip and legs. No idea where to start there other than typing a search into google. But, it is one of the things that is going to be coming up at our first vet visit.
P.S.
Winston is getting little burgundy spots here is the first one we noticed. I don’t have as many pictures of Mr. Winston yet as I do Vinny and Evie but that will come in time.
As always stay classy,
