Meet Gizmo and Loki, the motivation for today's blog:
They are purebred Shiba Inus. Very few people have heard of this breed (although they are becoming more popular). Gizmo (the red one) is almost seven and Loki (the black one) is nearly five. Although they look nothing alike, I assure you they are the same breed.
TJ never wanted dogs, but a friend of his had one of these and he decided if we ever got a dog that's what we would get. So we got Gizmo. We were a bit ignorant to the whole breeder thing at the time, so we went to a place that was most likely a puppy mill (shudder) and got him. Although I know you should not buy from people who keep their dogs in inhumane conditions, I couldn't bear to leave this puppy in that place, so off we went with baby Gizmo. He was bit shaky and shy, but we thought he would grow out of it (he didn't...he is the most withdrawn dog with strangers, he hates Petsmart and he hates lots of people). When Gizmo turned two, he began having seizures--bad ones. TJ and I ended up having to take him to the emergency vet clinic one night at like 12:30. They had to keep him overnight. Our house was so quiet without him that we wondered what we would do if anything happened to him. The next morning when we picked him up they said they could find nothing wrong. I called a friend who was a certified trainer and she said to switch his food, so we did and (knock on wood) things got better.
After a while, Gizmo appeared lonely, so we got Loki. He was so tiny and cute and adventurous. He is Gizmo's polar opposite. They hated each other for some time (actually, I should say that Gizmo hated Loki--he was jealous that he was no longer the only dog...he got over it.) They became a pair and we became our own little family (as odd as it seems).
Then Gizmo started acting weird. We took him through a battery of tests and it turned out that he was allergic to dust mites (of all blasted things) so he was put on steroids and antibiotics. Fine, super. A dog on steroids. We figured it was because of where he came from and we were fine with doing whatever we had to to keep him comfortable--after all, he was our baby. Then, when Loki turned two, he started with the itchy, chewy, scratchy stuff. Guess what? Allergies--TO DUST MITES!!! You've got to be kidding me...two dogs, unrelated, allergic to the same thing. Suddenly we had two dogs on steroids and antibiotics.
The kicker? They have to be on this stuff for the rest of their lives or else they are miserable. Miserable as in Loki chews all the fur off his paws and Gizmo chews all the fur off from under his front legs. The steroids aren't bad ($9.00 for a month's supply for two dogs)...the antibiotics, however, run us close to $90.00 every two months or so. That's a lot, really, but we do it...every other month. Why? Because they are ours--we have raised them and we can't stand to see them suffer for anything. Some people may have given up by now...taken them to the pound, put them down, given them away--but we can't and we won't. Just because they are not perfectly healthy doesn't mean they aren't perfect. Gizmo is reserved and quiet, but, when he wags his tail, it makes everyone happy. Loki is wild and crazy--he will exhaust you with fetch, but he won't stop unless he collapses. Each of them is unique in their own way and our lives would be empty without them.
We knew what we were getting into when we got them, and we are in this for the long haul. It is strange that you can become so attached to something...but we have, and, no matter what, we are going to make sure that these two live a long and happy life...
No matter what the cost.
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