Tucker
STATE: ME
AGE: 9 months (born 9/21/05)
WEIGHT: 51 lbs
SEX: male
NEUT/UTD: Yes/Yes
COAT COLOR: Fawn
DOCKED TAIL: Yes
CROPPED EARS: No
CHILDREN under 4: Yes
CHILDREN OVER 4: Yes
SEPARATION ANXIETY: No
OTHER DOGS: Yes
CATS: Yes
CRATE TRAINED: Yes
HOUSE TRAINED: Mostly
OBEDIENCE TRAINED: No
LEASH TRAINED: No, but improving
MICROCHIPPED: No
ADOPTION FEE: $300
AGE: 9 months (born 9/21/05)
WEIGHT: 51 lbs
SEX: male
NEUT/UTD: Yes/Yes
COAT COLOR: Fawn
DOCKED TAIL: Yes
CROPPED EARS: No
CHILDREN under 4: Yes
CHILDREN OVER 4: Yes
SEPARATION ANXIETY: No
OTHER DOGS: Yes
CATS: Yes
CRATE TRAINED: Yes
HOUSE TRAINED: Mostly
OBEDIENCE TRAINED: No
LEASH TRAINED: No, but improving
MICROCHIPPED: No
ADOPTION FEE: $300
UPDATE 6/27/07 - Hi all sorry for not updating sooner, time just goes by so quickly. We can't begin to thank everyone
enough for letting Tucker join our family. What a sweet happy dog!!
We all love him soooo much!! He has just become a wonderful addition to our crazy family. So much has gon on in
the last year, we had to send our male dobe ( tucks best friend) to the rainbow bridge last october. He adjusted to the
loss quite well. In December we added a new dobe puppy to our clan and Tuck just was in complete doggie joy!! The
two of them are together all the time. Some things that Tuck does - He squeals on his brother and sister when they
are doing something that they aren't suposed to do such as stealing the potholders from the counter, he runs like the
wind even though he has two legs that aren't exactly perfect, he howles or should I say humms at supper time, he
loves to ride in the car on the front seat ( he is the only one of the 3 that we will allow on the front seat!!),he loves ice
cream, he eats it by the spoon like a complete gentleman, he has learned that even if he does something bad all he
needs to do is look at us with the snaggle teeth and tongue sticking out and all is forgotten. He is still skiddish in
new situations, it took us almost a half an hour to get him in the new van even with the other dogs inside he still
thought it was too scary, he now is the first one in it!!! He loves everyone he meets and everyone loves him. He is our
little smooshie. He is quite the spoksman for Second Chance Boxer Rescue, everyone that meets us in the shop or
out on the town we sing the praises of this wonderful organization. Keep up the good work!!! Thanks again for this
wonderful dog
UPDATE 10/10/06 - We are so happy to have Tucker in our family!!! What a great dog. He has adjusted so well. He
had a visit to the vet that did his surgery, just as a check up. The vet was very pleased with the progress that this little
guy has made. He still does not "trot" but he is getting better, he can now stand on his back legs and he can run just
about as fast as his dobe sister! His latest thing is ratting out his sister when she is doing something wrong - he will
sit there and bark at her as if to say she is being bad and I want everyone to know! He howles at dinnertime and
when Dad comes home, loves to play with the tennis ball and our teenage son. The two of them can roll on the floor
for hours!!! His obedience class went well. Our next step is to try to get his ILP? from the AKC so he can join his
sister the dobe in AKC Rally. Tucker has found that car rides are a ton of fun it is always a new place, Dads work for
lunch, Grammys house to play with the labs or the ball field to run free. Tuck is just such a happy little boy and so
loved.
UPDATE 8/28/06 - Hello everyone!This is Tuckers one month update!! We can't believe that it has been a month
already. Tucker is such a sweetie!! He has come a long way in such a short time. The first week was a little rough,
our female Dobie was having a difficult time adjusting to this "pest" in her life!! A week of seperate living areas and
long walks together helped her adjust and now she looks forward to play time!! She is really enjoying her new
playmate!! The games of tag around the dining room table are endless!! Tucker is the star of his obedience class,
thanks foster mom for starting on the basics with him, he is one smart pup. His legs are getting stronger every day,
he actually has muscle tone in his back end. Tucker has learned that rides are a good thing, we go some where new
every day. For the first couple of weeks we crated Tucker downstairs at night so our dogs would not feel that their
total space was invaded, good thought in theory but not realistic for Tuck, at 2 am he was lonley and would start to
cry, we soon smartened up and got a crate for the bedroom and now he sleeps all night with no problems. We did
set up an appointment to revisit the surgon for a check up on his legs. We will update with the results. We are so
happy with our little guy, thank you SCBR for doing such a good job finding good homes for these special dogs.
8/1/06 - Tucker has been adopted!
7/1/06 - Tucker's doing well this morning, very stiff from Thursday's double knee surgery, but that's expected. To
recap, Tucker had bilateral patellar luxation, that is, both knee caps were dislocating to the outside of his legs when
he walked, which can cause pain and bone deformities. The surgery was very successful and straighforward now
that the growth plates have closed up, and Dr. Gauger expects him to fully recover.
He's not putting any weight on the leg that has had surgery twice yet, but is putting some weight on the other.
Amazing to see a dog almost walk on two front legs! The vet techs said they had to sling him yesterday morning, but
he is getting around now, so he's already improved quite a bit. He's very, very sore, and last night was quite
uncomfortable. Unfortunately they had already given his pain meds for the evening before I picked him up...much
earlier than I would have done. All I could do was make him as comfy as I could. He didn't eat his regular dinner, but
had no problem scarfing leftover steak, pizza and sliced cheese!
I put a piece of memory foam mattress topper in his crate, that seems to be working well, with several towels laid
over it. I need to be able to quickly change his bedding. By the time he gets up he usually has to pee right away. No
big deal, he will go back into routine shortly, and he made it thru the night with no accidents. It's very tough for him to
poop, but he did manage last night. He will not be able to do any stairs for several weeks, he needs to be carried
quite a lot. No small feat now that he's grown (51#). Luckily I'm on vacation this coming week, so that's a big plus!
Tucker is such sweet little boy. The vet's office just loved him. He goes back for staple removal on the 17th, and the
tech did not think he would need any further follow up, so after that he will be available for adoption to his forever
home!
6/1/06 Poor Tucker! He has to have his knee done again! AND the other knee! The orthopedist was really
disappointed that the first surgery did not correct it enough. He did say his legs are still nice and straight, and now
that he is older he can correct both the top and bottom areas of the knee. Not totally unexpected was the luxation of
the other knee. Although the surgeon couldn't move it a couple of months ago, stress from favoring the other knee,
plus growing, have shown that it's not stable either. Bummer. He is scheduled for surgery again on June 23rd.
5/406 Just a little update for Mr. Tucker! He's doing very well, other than being antsy because he must still remain
pretty quiet. Whenever he thinks he has a chance he really lets loose! He is such a sweet boy, and he just loves
attention. He has grown quite a bit, but I do not think he will ever be a very large dog. He loves my seven month old
grandson, and it's a mutual thing! He does have a hard time holding his bathrooming for more then 4-6 hours during
the day in the crate. He usually makes it thru the night, but not always. I think much of the problem is that he is unable
to exercise to move his bowels along more quickly as he normally does. I think this will resolve itself as he is able to
do more. He actually did better prior to surgery, so I really feel his confinement is the culprit.
Tucker still must be on low activity and leash walking for several months. There is no reason why he cannot be
adopted now provided his new family is willling to commit to keeping his activity level at a minimum. That knee
needs as little stress as possible to properly heal.
4/24/06 - I didn't have a free second this weekend to catch you up on Tucker's vet visit from Friday. He's healing well,
but there is still some luxation going on. The Dr. successfully moved Tucker's kneecap, along with the tendons
above it, after deepening the groove where it rests. There is an anchor from the inside of the knee to the kneecap to
hold everything in place.
Unfortunately he could not move the tendon below because it would destroy the growth plate at the top of the tibia, so
that tendon is still way over from the center, and there is still more movement in the knee than there should be. He
cannot do anything else (if it needs it) until Tucker has matured and the growth plate is gone. He will do this revision
for free. For now Tucker must remain on leash walk only (he's going nuts, lol) and he has another appointment on
5/23 to see if the whole thing has stablized, or if he thinks he will need further work. This is the left knee...the right
knee does not have the greatest conformation, but it was not necessary to do any surgery on it and the kneecap was
not out of place.
Tucker probably ought to stay in Maine, maybe NH if possible, as it may be quite a while before we know if he needs
more surgery.
4/15/06 As you can see from the photo above, Tucker has had his knee surgery! Everything went very well, he was
also neutered, and he actually came home the next day. He is scheduled to have his stitches out on 4/21 and have
everything checked over. Everything appears to be well as far as I can judge, he is starting to put more weight on it
and is getting around very well. Tucker is not thrilled that he has to be in his crate a lot because of his surgery, but
overall he has been a very good boy about it. He loves to wrestle and play tug like a wild man, so I have to spend
some quality time on the floor with so he doesnt run and jump around! He is ready to go to obedience school, and
really is starting to need some formal guidance. Unfortunately we will have to wit a bit longer for him to heal, before
he can heel (excuse the pun).
3/27/06 - I took Tucker to have the specialist checkout his knee. Here's the scoop. Tucker has one luxating knee cap
(sliding in and out). The other knee is fine. He is not in pain and actually is extremely mobile. The bad one is sliding
laterally, that is, to the outside, like my dog Boo's (FYI, it's much more common for patellas to slide to the inside
when they luxate. It's very interesting actually). Dr. Gauger hemmed and hawed a bit as there is still a growth plate to
be considered, but he said it must be done because it will cause too much damage if not. He said it might need to
be done again when he is older, but I guess it might depend on how big Tucker gets. He's a pretty little guy even for 6
months.
So be thinking about the little guy on surgery day, April 5th. He's going to have his nip and tuck at the same time.
He's such a great little dog, someone is going to be very lucky!
3/18/06 - Tucker made the long trip to Maine today, thanks to all our wonderful volunteers.He is an adorable fawn boy
with a black mask and areal teddy bear face. SO cute!
Tucker has been diagnosed with bilaterally luxating patellas (dislocated knees). He is already scheduled to see our
wonderful orthopedist to see what can be done. Generally if the knees aren't too far out and the dog is not too old,
there is a good chance of correcting it.
In the meantime we will be working on some basic stuff with Tucker, primarily house training and crate training. He
seems like a smart little guy, so I think once we establish some routines he will do just fine!
enough for letting Tucker join our family. What a sweet happy dog!!
We all love him soooo much!! He has just become a wonderful addition to our crazy family. So much has gon on in
the last year, we had to send our male dobe ( tucks best friend) to the rainbow bridge last october. He adjusted to the
loss quite well. In December we added a new dobe puppy to our clan and Tuck just was in complete doggie joy!! The
two of them are together all the time. Some things that Tuck does - He squeals on his brother and sister when they
are doing something that they aren't suposed to do such as stealing the potholders from the counter, he runs like the
wind even though he has two legs that aren't exactly perfect, he howles or should I say humms at supper time, he
loves to ride in the car on the front seat ( he is the only one of the 3 that we will allow on the front seat!!),he loves ice
cream, he eats it by the spoon like a complete gentleman, he has learned that even if he does something bad all he
needs to do is look at us with the snaggle teeth and tongue sticking out and all is forgotten. He is still skiddish in
new situations, it took us almost a half an hour to get him in the new van even with the other dogs inside he still
thought it was too scary, he now is the first one in it!!! He loves everyone he meets and everyone loves him. He is our
little smooshie. He is quite the spoksman for Second Chance Boxer Rescue, everyone that meets us in the shop or
out on the town we sing the praises of this wonderful organization. Keep up the good work!!! Thanks again for this
wonderful dog
UPDATE 10/10/06 - We are so happy to have Tucker in our family!!! What a great dog. He has adjusted so well. He
had a visit to the vet that did his surgery, just as a check up. The vet was very pleased with the progress that this little
guy has made. He still does not "trot" but he is getting better, he can now stand on his back legs and he can run just
about as fast as his dobe sister! His latest thing is ratting out his sister when she is doing something wrong - he will
sit there and bark at her as if to say she is being bad and I want everyone to know! He howles at dinnertime and
when Dad comes home, loves to play with the tennis ball and our teenage son. The two of them can roll on the floor
for hours!!! His obedience class went well. Our next step is to try to get his ILP? from the AKC so he can join his
sister the dobe in AKC Rally. Tucker has found that car rides are a ton of fun it is always a new place, Dads work for
lunch, Grammys house to play with the labs or the ball field to run free. Tuck is just such a happy little boy and so
loved.
UPDATE 8/28/06 - Hello everyone!This is Tuckers one month update!! We can't believe that it has been a month
already. Tucker is such a sweetie!! He has come a long way in such a short time. The first week was a little rough,
our female Dobie was having a difficult time adjusting to this "pest" in her life!! A week of seperate living areas and
long walks together helped her adjust and now she looks forward to play time!! She is really enjoying her new
playmate!! The games of tag around the dining room table are endless!! Tucker is the star of his obedience class,
thanks foster mom for starting on the basics with him, he is one smart pup. His legs are getting stronger every day,
he actually has muscle tone in his back end. Tucker has learned that rides are a good thing, we go some where new
every day. For the first couple of weeks we crated Tucker downstairs at night so our dogs would not feel that their
total space was invaded, good thought in theory but not realistic for Tuck, at 2 am he was lonley and would start to
cry, we soon smartened up and got a crate for the bedroom and now he sleeps all night with no problems. We did
set up an appointment to revisit the surgon for a check up on his legs. We will update with the results. We are so
happy with our little guy, thank you SCBR for doing such a good job finding good homes for these special dogs.
8/1/06 - Tucker has been adopted!
7/1/06 - Tucker's doing well this morning, very stiff from Thursday's double knee surgery, but that's expected. To
recap, Tucker had bilateral patellar luxation, that is, both knee caps were dislocating to the outside of his legs when
he walked, which can cause pain and bone deformities. The surgery was very successful and straighforward now
that the growth plates have closed up, and Dr. Gauger expects him to fully recover.
He's not putting any weight on the leg that has had surgery twice yet, but is putting some weight on the other.
Amazing to see a dog almost walk on two front legs! The vet techs said they had to sling him yesterday morning, but
he is getting around now, so he's already improved quite a bit. He's very, very sore, and last night was quite
uncomfortable. Unfortunately they had already given his pain meds for the evening before I picked him up...much
earlier than I would have done. All I could do was make him as comfy as I could. He didn't eat his regular dinner, but
had no problem scarfing leftover steak, pizza and sliced cheese!
I put a piece of memory foam mattress topper in his crate, that seems to be working well, with several towels laid
over it. I need to be able to quickly change his bedding. By the time he gets up he usually has to pee right away. No
big deal, he will go back into routine shortly, and he made it thru the night with no accidents. It's very tough for him to
poop, but he did manage last night. He will not be able to do any stairs for several weeks, he needs to be carried
quite a lot. No small feat now that he's grown (51#). Luckily I'm on vacation this coming week, so that's a big plus!
Tucker is such sweet little boy. The vet's office just loved him. He goes back for staple removal on the 17th, and the
tech did not think he would need any further follow up, so after that he will be available for adoption to his forever
home!
6/1/06 Poor Tucker! He has to have his knee done again! AND the other knee! The orthopedist was really
disappointed that the first surgery did not correct it enough. He did say his legs are still nice and straight, and now
that he is older he can correct both the top and bottom areas of the knee. Not totally unexpected was the luxation of
the other knee. Although the surgeon couldn't move it a couple of months ago, stress from favoring the other knee,
plus growing, have shown that it's not stable either. Bummer. He is scheduled for surgery again on June 23rd.
5/406 Just a little update for Mr. Tucker! He's doing very well, other than being antsy because he must still remain
pretty quiet. Whenever he thinks he has a chance he really lets loose! He is such a sweet boy, and he just loves
attention. He has grown quite a bit, but I do not think he will ever be a very large dog. He loves my seven month old
grandson, and it's a mutual thing! He does have a hard time holding his bathrooming for more then 4-6 hours during
the day in the crate. He usually makes it thru the night, but not always. I think much of the problem is that he is unable
to exercise to move his bowels along more quickly as he normally does. I think this will resolve itself as he is able to
do more. He actually did better prior to surgery, so I really feel his confinement is the culprit.
Tucker still must be on low activity and leash walking for several months. There is no reason why he cannot be
adopted now provided his new family is willling to commit to keeping his activity level at a minimum. That knee
needs as little stress as possible to properly heal.
4/24/06 - I didn't have a free second this weekend to catch you up on Tucker's vet visit from Friday. He's healing well,
but there is still some luxation going on. The Dr. successfully moved Tucker's kneecap, along with the tendons
above it, after deepening the groove where it rests. There is an anchor from the inside of the knee to the kneecap to
hold everything in place.
Unfortunately he could not move the tendon below because it would destroy the growth plate at the top of the tibia, so
that tendon is still way over from the center, and there is still more movement in the knee than there should be. He
cannot do anything else (if it needs it) until Tucker has matured and the growth plate is gone. He will do this revision
for free. For now Tucker must remain on leash walk only (he's going nuts, lol) and he has another appointment on
5/23 to see if the whole thing has stablized, or if he thinks he will need further work. This is the left knee...the right
knee does not have the greatest conformation, but it was not necessary to do any surgery on it and the kneecap was
not out of place.
Tucker probably ought to stay in Maine, maybe NH if possible, as it may be quite a while before we know if he needs
more surgery.
4/15/06 As you can see from the photo above, Tucker has had his knee surgery! Everything went very well, he was
also neutered, and he actually came home the next day. He is scheduled to have his stitches out on 4/21 and have
everything checked over. Everything appears to be well as far as I can judge, he is starting to put more weight on it
and is getting around very well. Tucker is not thrilled that he has to be in his crate a lot because of his surgery, but
overall he has been a very good boy about it. He loves to wrestle and play tug like a wild man, so I have to spend
some quality time on the floor with so he doesnt run and jump around! He is ready to go to obedience school, and
really is starting to need some formal guidance. Unfortunately we will have to wit a bit longer for him to heal, before
he can heel (excuse the pun).
3/27/06 - I took Tucker to have the specialist checkout his knee. Here's the scoop. Tucker has one luxating knee cap
(sliding in and out). The other knee is fine. He is not in pain and actually is extremely mobile. The bad one is sliding
laterally, that is, to the outside, like my dog Boo's (FYI, it's much more common for patellas to slide to the inside
when they luxate. It's very interesting actually). Dr. Gauger hemmed and hawed a bit as there is still a growth plate to
be considered, but he said it must be done because it will cause too much damage if not. He said it might need to
be done again when he is older, but I guess it might depend on how big Tucker gets. He's a pretty little guy even for 6
months.
So be thinking about the little guy on surgery day, April 5th. He's going to have his nip and tuck at the same time.
He's such a great little dog, someone is going to be very lucky!
3/18/06 - Tucker made the long trip to Maine today, thanks to all our wonderful volunteers.He is an adorable fawn boy
with a black mask and areal teddy bear face. SO cute!
Tucker has been diagnosed with bilaterally luxating patellas (dislocated knees). He is already scheduled to see our
wonderful orthopedist to see what can be done. Generally if the knees aren't too far out and the dog is not too old,
there is a good chance of correcting it.
In the meantime we will be working on some basic stuff with Tucker, primarily house training and crate training. He
seems like a smart little guy, so I think once we establish some routines he will do just fine!
| Thank you everyone for all of your kind donations to help Tucker with his surgeries! |
