Montag, 5. Dezember 2011

Too much to mention ...

A lot of time passed since I wrote the last blog entry about Orion. My partner's prolapse and the Operation was the main topic from the beginning of April to the end of May. Then she had to recover and to undergo physiotherapy, meanwhile we tried to get all the necessary papers from various countries to get the permission to get married in Austria. Orion was with us and walked and fed as usual. He had his ups and downs and his regular diarrhoea-attacks. He was with us at the marriage and on honeymoon.

We went to Norway and he enjoyed rushing out of the door onto the veranda and climbing rocks, running for his tennis ball and swimming in the sea. He regained his confidence in his swimming after he had lost it when he almost drowned in the new Danube in July. I went to rescue him after only his nose was visible above the water surface.

The three weeks in Norway passed way too fast and we went back to Austria again using car and train. Orion and Mischa made sure we had a cabin of our own with 6 seats to use for sleeping.

After another week on vacation in Vienna I went to the army and Orion decided to shake hands with death. His stomach turned, but as I had read about the symptoms and Ine's first dog had died from it, we rushed to the nearest animal hospital and 30 minutes later Orion was operated, the stomach turned back again and the next day we found a very skinny dog with a giant scar that was too weak to stand for more than 3 minutes but barked as he demanded to play. We took him back home after 3 days and you can still see the areas where he was shaved. He recovered quickly and his appetite was better than ever. His hyperventilation - something we almost got used to - was gone and soon he played again.

So far to the short summary of the summer 2011 for Orion. Now we have to move a lot of furniture and stuff from Ine's flat to our's, organise a family Christmas celebration and a New Year’s Eve party. Than we have to clear the flat and return the keys by the end of January 2012

This was the preview of the coming months and I hope I'll have more time to write then and to post some of the hundreds of pictures I took of Orion so far.

Mittwoch, 11. Mai 2011

The family dog and - he is no mixed breed.

When we took Orion home we were warned. We were told he's dangerous, aggressive to other dogs and not cuddly at all. Sure! When you give a dog a home and make it feel that it is safe there is no aggression any more. And Orion turned out to be the cuddliest dog on earth.

He loves to curl up on the sofe with us and happily sleeps there. He wakes up at night and makes sure that I am still there. He follows me like a shadow where ever I go and waits in front of the toilet's door when I am inside (maybe one of his former owners disappeared through a toilet).

He gained muscles and loves running. As I was asked more and more often if this dog was a certein breed I started some investigation and finally discovered that Orion is not a Greyhound-German Shepherd-Mix but a Podenco Canario. The pictures you can find and the behaviour describe my doggy up to an extent that there is no doubt. Even the vet had to agree.

Lately he showed the first signs of getting older and every now and then you can see that Orion is in his 11th year. We started adding magnesium and zinc to his food and this helps him to still be able to run for about 30-60 minutes per day.

In August we'll take Mischa and Orion to Norway and they will be with us on out honeymoon. I am Sure Orion is happy with the life he lives now and we will have to visit the Tierschutzhaus again to show them what a wonderful dog Orion turned out to be.

We still meet Elisabeth, Orion's former foster mother, once a month and she agrees that Orion is happier than she ever saw him before and that she had never expected him to be as social and well behaved as he is now.