English Setter Déjà vu

Patch and Max

 When you adopt senior or special needs dogs, they aren't necessarily with you for very long. Unfortunately in the past 4 months 3 of my pups (Elliot, Loui and Jorja) all headed to the rainbow bridge.

Elliot (2007?-2019), Loui (2011?-2019) and Jorja (2006-2020)

Shortly after Elliot passed I was looking so see if there were any senior setters in need and I ran across a photo that could have been Elliot's twin. I looked and read the story of Max, a six year old boy from Indiana who is blind in one eye and soon to be completely blind. He traveled to me arriving on November 17th and is a wonderful addition to the family.

Just weeks later Loui needed exploratory surgery to determine if what the doctor felt in his abdomen was cancer. They removed a grapefruit size mass from his intestines along with his spleen that looked suspiciously diseased. Unfortunately, Loui's heart stopped while in recovery and they could not revive him. I was devastated.

Jorja, Max and I plodded on with life. Jorja (age 13.5) had been diagnosed with severe arthritis last year. She began receiving monthly injections when she came up lame one day in early autumn. The CBD oil and carprofen were no longer being effective to keep her pain free. The injection worked for a time, but then she began struggling again. In early January she stopped eating full meals and began losing weight. A steroid shot was given on a Friday to try to stimulate appetite and she managed through the weekend, but by Monday I knew it was her time.  She would not eat and she couldn't stay up, even with help.

When I adopted Elliot in 2013 he was in pretty sad shape including having a cancerous tumor hanging from his neck. It was at that time I made the decision that moving forward I would only adopt senior or special needs dogs.

Jorja came to me in 2017 at age 10 and within months she was diagnosed with breast cancer which was successfully treated with two surgeries. Loui was adopted in 2018 at age 8, heartworm positive and with a leg that had at one time been broken but never reset. They were all really super dogs that just weren't perfect in a traditional "buy them at the pet store" sense. But they were PERFECT companions.

Max (age 6) is a huge comfort. I adopted him via Our English Setter Rescue (OESR) which is based in Ohio but has volunteers throughout the country. They maintain a Facebook group for adopters/fosters to ask questions and I am learning quite a few things from the posts. Dogs in need of fostering and those ready for adoption are posted.

Patch is one of those dogs and is my first venture into being a foster mom. He is age 5.5, positive for anaplasmosis and lyme disease. He was rescued in Virginia from a unpleasant situation covered with ticks. OESR saw that he was quickly neutered, bathed and vetted by an angel named Deanna. He arrived this past weekend via a transport chain of 8 wonderful souls who volunteered to drive him down to me in Florida.

He is quite the beautiful dog but OY, is he a pigpen. He lies in the dirt and brings it all in the house. Then it dawned on me.....I frequently called Jorja "pigpen" because she would come inside and by the time she got up from the kitchen mat there would be a cloud of dirt reminiscent of the Charles Schulz character.

Patch is identical in color and in conformation to the late and great Jorja. Patch is just a somewhat larger version. He is a tad worse than Jorja in the pigpen category since he digs in the water bowl, flooding the kitchen and walking through it with his GIANT dirt covered paws. The mops are getting a workout but his angelic face takes the sting out of the constant mopping. Hopefully the new "Slopper Stopper Dripless Water Bowl" I ordered will at least limit the flooding. Can't wait for it to arrive tomorrow.

Patch, like Jorja is in constant motion patrolling the property when he is outside.  He does laps...always on the hunt.

By the same token, Max could be Elliot's clone. He goes outside and stays in one area, hunting lizards.  I even find myself accidentally calling him Elliot from time to time. He is soft, mild mannered and quiet. He doesn't drag dirt into the house and neither did Elliot. I guess white and orange Setters just aren't dirt attractants. 

I glanced up the other day to see Patch and Max standing side by side in the yard.  The two dogs are so different personality-wise yet the similarity to their same-colored predecessors is striking.

That's when I had my déjà vu moment. It was as if Jorja and Elliot were back. 

Jorja and Elliot Dec 2018