We Interrupt This Show

 Shortly after I pressed publish on that last post, I got a call from our local Golden Retriever rescue organization. They had rescued twelves--TWELVE--golden retriever puppies, approximately 6 months in age, and their mom from a puppy and mill and some truly horrible conditions. They needed foster homes.

So, being the suckers for a cute dog face that we are, we agreed to take one in. We named him Nacho Dog, because he is NOT our dog and he's only staying until he's healed up and finds his forever family. Nacho is doing really well, has settled in finally, and we think we've found his forever family! He's one of the sweetest, calmest pups I've ever had, and I'll be sad to see him go--but the chaos of two dogs and two kids and two adults with two full time jobs is too much. No foster fails here. 

Updates

Well, that was an unexpected break, but so it goes. 

We continued to struggle after the loss of Finn. The kids, as kids do, asked if we would get another dog, but my heart was not in it. We told them that if the right dog showed up, we would know. 

The universe took my deflection as an invitation, and a rescue organization contacted us about Hank.

Hank is a fifteen month old golden retriever, similar in age and coloring to our sweet boy. Hank is a rescue, coming out of a bad situation. He's a sweet good boy, and has been with us for two weeks now. He needs love and attention and some medical help, and we've got those to give. He's been on his first family hiking excursion, and had a blast. 

Hiking updates: We've been hiking at Fort Ben mostly, but we also did a great side trip to Turkey Run and Shades State Parks. Our Acadia Trip is planned and finalized, so I am excited to share more about that. We had a lake vacation with some hiking and biking, and a trip to Buffalo with a nice easy hike through a local park. Hank and I are doing a couch to 5K challenge.

Grief

Finn passed away. It was a genetic autoimmune disorder, with no chance of recovery and great pain. He was just a baby.

We are awash in grief. His cheerful face and sweet disposition is everywhere I look, on every trail we take. I've lost my constant buddy, my hiking dog, and my sweet snuggle puppy.

Finn

I wanted to post, and catch you up on the Indiana Dunes trip, but things took a devastating turn here. Our sweet golden retriever, Finn, suddenly became paralyzed over the course of an hour. 

A week ago today, Finn was fine, happy, playful, and annoying, as puppies are--he's still only one. Then he couldn't stand up well. Then he couldn't walk. Then he couldn't get up at all. Then he couldn't lift his head. We took him to the emergency vet, and after time and overnights and tests, we've figured out he has an autoimmune disorder. There's 30/30/30 chances here--30 he recovers fully, 30 he recovers somewhat (and there's a range here from "mostly recovered but can't do this physically strenuous thing" to "recovered means he can lift his head up and maybe support his weight if you stand him up, but he can't walk"), and then 30 he doesn't recover at all and declines further. 

These are obviously not great odds. We had some hope yesterday and the day before--he was lifting his head more, he was holding a position we put him in that he previously couldn't, etc. Today, he is noticeably worse.

Our hearts were so sad after we lost our last dog, Telly. Telly was old and had a great life, and it felt like Telly found Finn for us to help heal. Finn is our sweet boy, just a puppy, who loves to be with us, snuggle, and begrudgingly goes on hikes with us. This is some kind of terrible nightmare.