Suus: The Rescued Dachshund Who Found Her True Home

Guest post by Nadia Hermans from Belgium in which she tells the story of her dachshund Suus, a former mill dog who is doing great at the age of 17. When I saw Nadia’s photo of Suus in her custom stroller, I had to know more! Nadia kindly shared Suus’ story–Eileen Anderson

 

How Suzanne (aka Suus) Came To Us

When our dachshund Didi died ( adopted from a nice woman who couldn’t take care for her anymore due to ALS disease), due to liver failure some four years ago – she was only 7 years old but she had a great life. She had Cushing’s Disease and the tumor was located in the adrenal glands and in this case dogs who have the disease live less longer,  We knew, as fond as we both were about this breed (my wife and I)–we knew we would adopt another dachshund, no matter how old but definitely adopting.

Since we had adopted our Lili, an ex-Spanish street dog, we knew that we would never buy a dog again, there were so many dogs waiting in shelters for a new home. ( Lili passed away about 5 weeks ago due to a mast cell tumor which was inoperable, she was 16 and also a great dog.) We looked on shelter pages on the internet and found on the general internet a strange advertisement, 4 dogs for sale and one of them was a dachshund, for only 100 euros [about $117 American dollars]. The price was strange for a dog of only 6 years old and we were suspicious. My wife phoned the owner and when we got the address we knew it was a former big puppy farm on the other side of our little country.

We went to see her 2 days later and when the owner, a too friendly lady (we later called her Cruella De Ville) showed her to us we were internally angry and very astonished. She was completely unattended, her fur looked long and filthy but from the first time we looked into those gentle eyes we knew that she was going home with us. We went for a little walk so we could take a closer look at this poor girl who looked much older than 6. She was so gentle, so shy but not really fearful for a mill dog but rather submissive and you could see she liked our gentle voices and pushed us to pet her. The love of the whole world was in those eyes and we were in love.

She Needed Our Help

I saw a little bald place on her back and a hump on one of her breasts and she had a terrible smell coming from her mouth and what we could see of her teeth—they were infected and brown. We didn’t discuss this with the owner; we paid 50 euro ’cause she gave a 50 euro discount for the vet and a European passport and we went home. In the worst case scenario, she would have Cushing’s, and a lot of teeth would have to be pulled. But no matter what she was our girl now and she was safe. At home, 3 dogs were waiting for us, Lili, Jitse a mixed breed, and Bela-Bartok,  a Cairn terrier female ( She passed away due to heart failure two years ago and was nearly 17.)

Because we both were for years volunteers in different dog shelters we had met and cared for a lot of ex-mill dogs and knew what we could expect, thinking about non socialization, not being used to live in a house, not used to live with other dogs and cats not to mention the severe behavior problems that could occur. We knew we were taking a risk taking her home.

On our way home I phoned our vet Lieselot to tell her we were on our way home with a dachshund and to make an appointment as soon as possible. We could go the next day. We named her Suzanne, which became Suus and when we got home the meet and greet with the other dogs went very well, she sniffed at them and vice versa and then we gave her a bath. Later on she fell asleep for the first time in a warm basket in her first house covered by a warm fleece. We adored her from the first minute. She got a complete medical checkup by our vet and her rotten teeth were pulled out first… The hump was a breast tumor so she had two more major operations to remove all her nipples and was sterilized at the same time… Her bloodwork showed that she was positive for Cushing’s disease and soon we started with Vetoryl. She recovered very well from surgery twice. She also had a heart murmur and got medication for that too.

Suus surprised us having no severe behavior problems such as being fearful or aggressive but acted quite happy in her all new environment and she followed us all around the house and bit by bit she got very fond of walking around in the garden. The other dogs accepted her and Bela-Bartok became her special friend; they slept together on our bed. We taught Suus to walk on a leash and taught her the most important skill ‘the recall’ and she did well. So she could run free too without a leash. Due to the heart murmur, we could only do small walks in the beginning but after some time she could come for an hour or more.

Our Bond

There was a bond from the moment we saw her. We took her home because we wanted to give her a life no matter how old she was. We never think about losing them, a senior when we adopt one, no, we think about what we can give them no matter how long their life will be. We knew that mill dogs didn’t have a life and although our Suus wasn’t completely unsocialized she knew not much more than her kennel and its environment. She is so gentle, so friendly and likes her treats, her raw meat food and she likes to puzzle or search for treats in her Snuffle Mat or in the woods or our yard. Her hunting dog instincts were still there and she tried to catch a rabbit now and then but wasn’t fast enough.

Additional Health Problems

One day in the morning I think about two years ago there was something terribly wrong with her. She fell over, head tilt, no balance anymore and so tired… but she wanted still to eat so I hand-fed her and after that, she fell asleep. Our vet told us after she examined her that it was the old dog vestibular syndrome—we had never heard about it. The only thing that mattered was “is it treatable?”. It wasn’t but normally it resolves itself after a week or longer. Two weeks later she was better, everything was ok again. Months later she had it for the second time but it resolved itself again after a week but a slight head tilt stayed and also a little loss of coordination.

But Suus kept going like she has always done, no matter what comes on her path she wants to go on and she does: our hero. It’s like she embraces life. She couldn’t join us on our long walks and walking her alone was no option, she wanted to be with her friends. She rushed almost falling to the car port to go with the gang and even tried to jump into the car which was impossible but she jumped anyway so I had to catch her. So there was the thought of designing another stroller. I had designed one for our Bela-Bartok when she got too old to do long walks so the idea was not new. The one from Bela was ruined completely after walking the woods, the Ardennes, traveling abroad, uphill and downhill.

I saw on the internet that one could buy a stroller especially for dogs. So we bought a second-hand Innopet brand but the Princess didn’t like it, she wanted to jump out of it, it was too high above the ground I thought. So I searched for a children’s stroller and removed the seat and build a seat low to the ground and yay she liked it and stayed in it until she had rested enough so she could do some walking again. Because of the stroller, she can come with us everywhere—we went for 2 weeks to France last month, an 11-hour drive but we drove only at night so the dogs could sleep. This stroller is her second pair of legs…. She is with us, with the gang and sees what is happening being comfortable at the same time and smells the grass beneath her feet. Suus is a very nice and gentle dog and she likes everyone who enters our house and she has a lot of fans on my Facebook and in real life.

She still sleeps on our bed with our two male cats, Walter and Woodstock, and when she has to do potty she wakes me up by pushing her nose in my ear or licks my face so I have to carry her down the stairs into the yard and back. The other dogs sleep downstairs cause they don’t like cats and our living room is upstairs and they have their own entrance so they are separated and everyone is happy. There is also Luis, a mix Jack Russell/Podenco, an only male adopted and reactive to bikers, people he doesn’t know, cars, horses etc. But he likes his older dog sisters.

We go to a behavior therapist and take courses in tricks and agility with him. Last year we adopted a Cairn terrier, Ruby-Mae, a 12-year-old lovely girl but for more than 5 years left unattended. That is another story of mistreatment. They all get along very well. Every day we go for walks in the woods, in the country ’cause I’m fond of nature and trees. I work as an educator-nurse ( in a home for disabled people due to trauma, degenerative diseases– like for example Huntington’s chorea, and other muscle diseases and people who had acquired brain injury) and work only night shifts for 60%. This means only 2 or max 3 nights a week do I have time for the gang. My wife does the same job but with mentally disabled people during the day. Suus doesn’t have signs of dementia yet, or not that it is known or visible to us. She is deaf for more than a year now but still has some of her sight and knows some hand signals. She was never a barker but she has a great bark which she only uses when she doesn’t find us or is locked into a room by accident….

Mill dogs… We saw lots of mill dogs ending up in the shelters, some of them in very very bad shape, some couldn’t walk, had never seen grass or the sun, completely unsocialized… very sad. It is the government that allows the major dog breeders and though there were protest marches, petitions to stop this criminal and inhumane behaviour there still are a lot of puppy mills in our country. I could write a book about what I’ve seen in shelters in those 15 years. Nothing will ever stop us from adopting dogs or it has to be that we get too old ourselves… Every dog deserves a happy life !!

Photos and text copyright 2017 Nadia Hermans