Any Pet Lovers on here? Describe Life with your Pet(s) & tell some stories about them.

[CaptBunk]

Currently, we have two "rescue pups." Both are Dachshunds & around 8 years old now. One we got from a local Humane Shelter; he is a regular size "black & tan (reddish)" short haired named "Willie." I renamed him after the Shelter had called him "Shakespeare." He is not a typical rescue pup; he was found wondering the streets here locally by Animal Control but they recognized that he was a pure bred dog so after about a week the Human Shelter was contacted & he went there.
My Wife just happened to be volunteering there at the time & told me about him (we have had 3 Dachshunds before Willie). We waited a couple of weeks to see if someone came to claim him but no one did so he came to our house. He did have serious heart worm issues & other minor things to be dealt with but he pulled through & is now my best buddy.
The other is a female miniature "English Cream" long haired named "Rosa." My Wife had been near the coast of NC where she is from for a few weeks & happened to run across a lady that had more pups than she could deal with & the lady gave her to us. She is a beautiful dog (looks like miniature Golden Retriever) but is a "Diva."
She will not let me pet her, pick her up, & barks at me around my Wife. The lady had her "de-barked" (?) so her bark is not loud but has improved at our place. I can feed her, give her treats, but that's all. We have had her nearly 3 years, too.
I can tell more but will hang on til others post. I will say this; our lives are better with the pups around. We talk to them like they are our kids, take good care of them, they sleep with us, have a nice backyard to play in, and a "doggie door" to go in & out. We love our pups.

[stickyvicky]

Did your dog have any side effects or after effects from the heartworm treatment? My Harvey had heartworm when I first got him and that medicine is pretty brutal. It was so hard, the vet told me he couldn't exercise at all or walk any distances while he was taking the heartworm medicine and it just killed him because I could only take him on short walks when I took the other ones on longer ones. He seems to have really recovered well though because for the past five years he has been running 3 miles with me a few times a week, he's getting up in age now though 8 or 9 years old so he's not running quite as great I do notice a difference...

[CaptBunk]

Our dog Willie was in bad shape due to the heart worms. The Vet discovered he had them from hearing a heart murmur; which was gone after the treatment.
Our pup stayed a week at the Vet's because the medicine used to kill the worms (he had other parasites, too) was basically cyanide - a dose that was enough to kill the worms but not him. We were told that he might not make it through the treatment but he did and it's going on 4 years now since he was treated. Living in middle Georgia means hot, humid temps so we give the pups heart worm/flea/tick meds year round, 2 separate pills each month.
Taking in rescue pups is like having a child with special needs (In my opinion) because each case is different and requires patience, understanding, and lots of love. But I think it is worth it because of the love we get back by taking them into our home.
Pups like these teach us about true, unconditional love with no expectations. We wouldn't trade them for anything.t