CH. SHALAKO'S DANCIN' ON DREAMS
JUNE 11, 1999 -MAY 2004
Known as Josey Posey, she was an absolute delight to show! Poses was her nickname as she never put a foot down wrong in the show ring, and absolutely loved to show. She finished easily and went Group 1 at her first puppy match as a 16 week old puppy. She went to live with Teresa and Buster Harrill where she was dubbed "The Princess" and rightfully so! She was "in charge" and pampered as she was meant to be!
In spite of wonderful medical care, we lost Josey to advanced stage adult heartworm:
EVEN THOUGH SHE HAD BEEN ON HEARTWORM PREVENTATIVE ALL HER LIFE!
While rare, it has been known to happen. Josey was healthy and happy with NO SIGNS OF ILLNESS until about a month before her death.
We have learned a horrible lesson from all of this and would like to share with you some of the things we found out about heartworm.
CHECK YOUR DOG YEARLY!
Here's Josey's Story
In Memory of Josey
June 11, 1999 – May 12, 2004
Where does one begin? I am Teresa Ann Hairrell and my husband is A.D. “Buster” Petty. We were Mommy and Daddy to Ch. Shalako’s Dancin’ on Dreams, our “Josey”.
Buster and I lost our first schipperke “Miss Sassy Lady” after 12 ½ years to congestive heart failure. At the suggestion of our local veterinarian we took Sassy to Auburn’s School of Veterinary Medicine. There they confirmed the diagnosis and after almost a week in intensive care she was discharged with a poor prognosis. We carried her south to one of her favorite places, Point Clear on Mobile Bay, where she soon died. We found our home to be unbearably empty without Sassy and searched to find another schipperke. The search led us to Bette Wynn and the Shalako schipperkes. We went to the kennel and were shown many wonderful schips. I asked to go back into the kennel to see the rest of the dogs. Near the rear of the kennel we found just what we were looking for when Josey came forward and picked us. We were told that she was not for sale; nevertheless we asked if she could be brought up front so that we could visit with her. Buster and I sat on the floor and waited. Josey ran down the center of the kennel into our arms. It was love at first sight for all of us. It took several days and some negotiating, but to everyone’s disbelief Bette finally allowed Josey to come home with us.
Josey was just what our home needed. She was a sheer joy and delight and took nicely to spoiling. All that knew Josey as a puppy say that she was born a princess. Well . . . up in the feather bed with Mommy and Daddy suited her just fine. She loved putting on her life jacket and running the docks or going for a boat ride. She had an English wicker basket on my bicycle and loved riding in it with her Mommy. In the evening she would sit in my lap for hours for her nightly adoring. We still are having a difficult time getting beyond the loss of Josey, not just because we miss her but also because there was no reason for her to die. She died from a preventable disease. We lost our wonderful Josey to heartworm disease.
I guess we finally have arrived at the reason for this narrative. We cannot bring Josey back, but maybe we can save the life of others like her. After Josey came to live with us she got her Heartgard (ivermectin) religiously on the first day of every month. Since we believed her always to have been on preventive we were told by our veterinarian that she did not need the ELISA test and to continue her preventive medication monthly. Josey’s autopsy showed that she had suffered heartworm disease for a long time. The preventive medication we were giving her kept any new larvae from developing, but it did not kill adult heartworms. As Josey began to cough we saw three different veterinarians, all of whom said she was in heart failure at four years of age. We took her to the very qualified and exceptional professionals at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University, where she had an extensive work-up. The diagnosis was that she suffered from an advanced case of heartworm disease and she was too sick for the Melarsomine treatment. We were advised that her only hope was to bring her home where we were to give her oxygen therapy and Viagra to see if she would improve sufficiently so that she could undergo surgery to remove the heartworms. She did improve and off to Auburn we went. The night before surgery we relaxed around the pool at the Auburn Conference Center with Josey lying on a chaise lounge. Her coat had never looked better as she lay there, front paws crossed and head held high. A more beautiful sight would be hard to imagine. Everyone that passed stopped to admire her and of course “Josey Posey” assumed her most regal pose. We were so hopeful to be there. The two weeks getting Josey ready for surgery were gut-wrenching. She would be walking and simply fall over with breathing difficulty. We immediately would grab her and place her on oxygen. Yes, we had oxygen tanks and masks for Josey. I sat many times all night in the chair and sang “What the World Needs Now” to her. Josey would look at me with such adoration. She loved both her family and her life and . . . she fought hard to hang on. Josey died on the operating table. Surgery was a long shot but we had to try since it was her only chance. We had Josey cremated and her urn now sits in the bedside table with Sassy’s remains.
I guess I am pleading with each of you. If you own a dog have a $20.00 ELISA test run now. If the test is negative start your dog on monthly preventive. If it is positive seek treatment immediately. Even if you live in an area that does not have mosquitoes, but you take your dog to shows in areas where mosquitoes are present, a preventive should be used. It only takes one bite from an infected mosquito and in 100 days your dog can be infected. And . . . you must treat your dog all months of the year, not just during summer months. Say you treat your dog the first of September and the dog is bitten by a disease-carrying mosquito at the end of the month or the first of October and you do not treat the dog in November, your dog is infected. Consider another thing . . . if you allow your dog to stay with another person for training and showing, have a firm commitment that on the first day of every month your dog will receive the preventive regardless of whether the other party believes in the treatment. One more thing . . . it is imperative that you match the dosage with the weight of your dog.
We will never know where the failure occurred that cost Josey her life, but she paid dearly for that failure. This loop must be closed so no other dog pays the price for our shortcomings. They give us so much and we as responsible pet owners owe it to them to protect them. The last thing we can do for Josey now is to be all that we can be for Shalako’s Dreamin’ It’s All About Me. Yes, we have a Josey puppy . . . our little MeMe and we celebrated her first birthday on August 8th.
She’s a little like Sassy, a little like Josey, and a whole lot like herself. We thank Josey for MeMe and feel blessed. By the way, MeMe gets an ELISA test every six months and her Heartgard the first of every month.
