Introducing Patience

Patience is another lovely old dog who came out of a large shelter. She was in very bad shape when she reached her new ODH Final Refuge Home. Patience had been suffering for years with chronic ear infections, terrible skin issues, loss of eyesight in one eye and lots of arthritis in both front and back legs AND, as if that was not enough, kidney failure​.​

Because of all of this, she came into her new home quietly, asking very little, and probably believing that no one would care for her here either. But, oh was she wrong!! We welcomed her with open arms, and thanks to ODH, got right to work with vet visits and treatments for her various medical issues in addition to good food to help her body deal with her kidney failure. She was quite thin, so we have tried to encourage her to eat and put on a few pounds! Sometimes that is a challenge, because she is not always hungry, but with lots of encouragement, she has gotten more interested in food-most of the time​.​

Patience is our frail little old lady, due to all of her medical issues, but she tries her best to walk in the pasture with her other pack members, and is very loving and affectionate towards us. She is quick to wag her tail, and sometimes we feel a soft, gentle nose pushing at our legs!  Her balance is not the best, probably due to vision issues, but the other dogs seem tolerant of her, and try to be patient with her when she kind of stumbles into them! We think they understand that she is doing the best she can!

We feel so glad that she has become the latest member of our ODH family, and so appreciate the willingness and support Old Dog Haven has given us to help this girl to have a happy end of life. We hope to keep her feeling comfortable as long as possible and will do everything we can to help her. She is worth all the love and effort we can shower on her​.​  We are so honored to have her living with us​.​

Update:   After two and a half short months in her Final Refuge home, sweet Patience just could not hold on any longer. Sadly, her kidney failure had begun to take over, and we just could not get her to eat or do much else other than sleep. She was having a much harder time moving around and it was a struggle to even go outside for a potty break. She never lost her affection for her people, but even that seemed like it was almost more of an effort than she could handle. We sent her on her way with treats and lots of love. Patience did go quickly, and did not have to suffer with that worn out body another day. Her gentle presence, the light touch of her nose on the back of our legs, and that affectionate tail wag will truly be missed. We are so glad we got to love her, if only for a short time.

THANK YOU to Old Dog Haven and also the wonderful sponsors who supported her.