I saw your website on craigslist and thought my Zeppie sounded like a perfect fit.  I .  His story is a little more long winded than some of the others, But i think you’ll enjoy it a lot!!!!.

 

My husband and I got Zeppelin in July 2007.  I initially found him when he was about 8 weeks old – he was the product of an ‘accidental’ breeding between a show Old English Sheepdog and the neighborhood pittie. Translation - immediately rejected by the owners of the female OES and put into rescue.  All but one of his litter mates died of parvo and when we got him he had a bad case of demodex mange. This…was the beginning of a long line of vet bills….

 

Don’t get me wrong. We love our Zeppie – he makes us laugh daily and has the typical goofy personality of an OES. but He is very much still a puppy at 18 months, and probably too laid back for our own good...

 

First, he chewed the cord off of my laptop….which wasn’t a huge deal – maybe $10.

Then, he destroyed his dog bed…and his fleece blanket. And another fleece blanket. And a towel.  And another dog bed.  He also is no longer allowed to have any toys except the ‘Kong’ kind because all he does is eat them, which can’t be good. Our other dog, Houdini, has suffered dearly for this because he no longer gets any cool toys L Did I mention Zeppelin is allergic to EVERYTHING?  He can’t have any bones of any kind because they cause him to have a skin allergy and get ear infections.

 

But that’s nothing.... So here’s the real story: 

One morning in March 2008, he had on his ‘I don’t feel good’ face – one I had come to know after all the vet trips in his younger days. Then he puked all over the floor after eating breakfast. I didn’t take this too seriously – sometimes dogs just get sick because they ate some grass and they get over it.  But, the next day, he wouldn’t eat. And then I noticed he wouldn’t drink either. Something was seriously wrong. And then he puked what looked like black tar all over the deck. Yipes.  So off to the vet he went.

 

After two days, the vet had gotten him to eat a little canned food and given him IV fluids. I went to visit and he seemed slightly back to his ‘old’ self. The next day, the vet said he could come home because he hadn’t gotten sick in 24 hours. My husband goes to get him and, low and behold, Zeppie has gotten sick in his cage in the meantime. The vet calls for emergency surgery. Which takes … 4 hours … of waiting for the vet to call….my husband was sick with worry at this point.

 

FINALLY, we get the call on how the surgery went. The vet quickly explains that he found an ENTIRE ball of black twine in Zeppelin’s intestine. And it was wrapped around a bunch of sticks (my dogs like to eat sticks – I try to stop them, but sometimes it unavoidable). So, basically, it had turned Zeppie’s insides into an accordion. The verdict was that Zeppie’s life hung in the balance since his entire intestines were compromised and the surgery could easily lead to infection. To make a long story less long, Zeppie made a FULL recovery. And it only cost us about $1000 in vet bills.

 

Needless to say, he is no longer allowed to be outside unsupervised and we are somewhat more vigilant about his stick eating habits. Now he just likes to try to eat Houdini.