Carbón's Big Adventure (aka Labratour Part IV)

It seemed high time for Carbón and his guest star animal friends to get their own thread. He is, after all, officially sprung from his shelter and is never, ever going back. It's a pretty big exciting world out there for a dog who has spent 80% of his short life in a shelter, so that explains "Big Adventure". As for "Labratour"...well, he's a Labrador, and he and I are going on a tour, right?

To summarise the story so far, I met Carbón about a month ago as a volunteer dog walker in a local private shelter. Carbon's story was that he was surrendered at 6 months old to a perrera (local dog pound) in Jerez, then transferred to a perrera in Chiclana (where I live) and finally to the local private no-kill shelter. He's just under 1.5 years old. The shelter says the reason he wasn't adopted is simply because he's black. No idea how he lasted so long in the perrera. They don't call them "killing stations" for nothing.

In addition, once he entered the private shelter, he also tested positive for low-level Leishmaniasis. Leish is manageable and Leish dogs can be healthy and live normal life spans, but it adds to the unlikelihood of him ever getting adopted in Spain. As my friend Miracle Miry the animal rescuer said to me, "Emily, if you don't get him out of there, he'll live his whole life in the shelter".

Well, as my own life is going through what can only be politely described as a "rough patch", I've decided that Carbón is my one good thing in the storm and I'm getting him out. For me and for him.

So we get him out. Simple, right?

Here's where I give big, huge and enthusiastic kudos to Kate @Beanwood . I don't know how much she wants me to say, but I do want to acknowledge her hard work and support and TIME that she's put into helping Carbón from afar for the past month. The plan is not fully cooked yet, but we've at least got the ingredients and the recipe, and that's down to Kate.

You are one awesome chick, my friend.

So here we go, me bumbling along and trying to balance foster kitty Garfield with Carbón plus occasionally dognapping Carbón's best buddy Paul from the shelter while trying to cook up a plan for HIM with Miracle Miry. Confused yet?

In honour of Carbón's first night out of the crate and on the bed, first off-leash zoomie session at the beach, and first wearing of the official Hawaiian doggie bandana, I hereby usher in Labratour Part IV...let's see how far our boy will go!



Looking sharp with cow art in the background...

 

Where is the “love” button?

Wishing handsome Carbón the happiest of futures, out of the pound forever with your help, and that of Kate, who I agree is a complete angel

 

That's all so good.xxx

 

Kate and Emily you have very BIG hearts Carbon is amazing xx

 

Oh he's a happy, happy doggo I can't wait to hear what you and Kate have got brewing. Sending positive vibes to little Pol and Senor Garfield.

 

Oh look at him go!

 

He is a lovely looking boy.
Good work both of you x

 

Oh, Emily, he's off leash and he's loving it! So happy for him to have this freedom with you

 

What a gorgeous way to start the day. He looks so happy! You've done something amazing Emily

 

That’s so heartwarming.

Erm, may I be so bold to ask if he might end up a foster fail?

 

This is so lovely!
I had to look up leishmaniasis as I’d never heard of it. The wiki entry is quite scary but Carbon looks really healthy - here’s to him beating it.

 

We're still working on the off leash thing. When he was having his zoomies, he stayed right with me, but then he spotted a person sitting on the sand quite a ways away and made a beeline for her. Poor boy is so hungry lately on his starvation* diet (*Carbon's definition) and I think he thought she had food. Luckily she was a very nice German lady who loved dogs and gave him all sorts of cuddles. "You need to be careful with him," she told me. "He'll follow anyone home, he's so friendly". I kept my thoughts to myself, but what I was really thinking was, "Yeah, he'll follow anyone with a BRATWURST in their pocket!"

We walked a while with the German lady and her friend (good practice for my German) and we ran across a very playful Bodeguero. Carbon went completely batty so I let him off leash and they played like wackadoodles. Made me think that the blissful reprieve of having only Carbon in the house is now over and it's time to go pick up Paul again tomorrow. Let chaos reign?

 

It's doesn't seem so bad if you read some of the sites dedicated to leish dogs and rescuing them. It's seems manageable and dogs often become less positive when they are in a healthy stress free environment. The European version does not pass from dog to dog and a lot of dogs live normal lives. There are drugs to manage it too.

 

It varies so widely. Yes, it can be horrible. But it can also go completely into remission and often does once dogs get to the UK. Stress and general health have a lot to do with it, and skilful management is key. Carbon just had a full blood panel done, so we're waiting for the results. He last test showed low levels and he has just a few bits of hair missing from his inside ear tips, which is a good sign. I'm hoping with a chilled life here, a home cooked low purine diet and the correct medicine dosage, his levels may go low enough to be considered 'in remission'.

 

What does this entail? Have absolutely no idea at all...

 

Highly doubtful, but like all my fosters, I love them and treat them like they are my dogs, even if it turns out that I am just a placeholder for their real families. Out of 22 fosters over 16 years, I've only had one foster fail, my lovely Mama Jodhi. So I've got a pretty good track record. But that doesn't mean that a couple of them didn't stay for nearly a year during the search. That's how it works with the tough ones: just about the time you think, "OK, I guess this is my dog now", along comes the perfect family and it's time to sob like a baby and say goodbye.

But that's not what I'm thinking about right now with Carbon. I'm thinking that's MY smart, handsome snuffly boy and I'm going to enjoy the heck out of him while I have him.

 

I think he will, he looks happy and having had a dog with a auto immune problem, I know the healing value of happiness. Being well fed loved and feeling good really help boost the immune system. Judging by his loved up zoomies the boy is feeling it hoping for good blood results xxxxx

 

There's a good guide here on the Living with Leish FB page. I'm still trying to figure out what to cook, as most of my staple tried and true diet for Brogan is mid to high purine. So I'm having to try different types of ingredients, like courgettes instead of broccoli and white fish instead of sardines. It's a learning experience for me and Carbon. Carbon does NOT really like courgettes or apples. We'll see how hungry he really has to get before they look tasty.

 

Give him 10 minutes

 

Shadow hated apple. I put some on his dinner for the first time a couple of weeks ago and he ate around it. Then I suggested he might like to try it and he did with a look of absolute disgust which turned to enjoyment after about two seconds. He gobbled the rest down and has been hooked ever since