Last week we answered an ad for 2 female doxies for free. We had wanted a doxie so we went to take a look. The lady who gave them to me thought she had rescued them 18 months ago, but believe me, we rescued them last Thursday from her pen. They looked horrible. They had bug bites all over them, were flea infested, dirty and very sad. The 5 year old, Suzy, was a breeder dog before this lady got them. I believe she was overbred and abused. She waddles when she walks, lays in the crate most of the day and is really antisocial. However if I pick her up and put her in my lap, she will sit there contently as long as I let her. I am very concerend that something may be wrong with Suzy. Any ideas what?

Her daughter, Lucy is 3. Lucy is a little skittish but she walks around wagging her tail and has started to come to us when we call her. She hates to go outside which is strange since she has only been an indoor pet for 5 days now. But when she's outside she will run around a bit. If we walk towards her, Lucy will turn and walk the other way, but if we are walking away, she follows us around. It's really cute to watch her follow my little boy around.

They both have small white spots in their eyes. Do you think it's cateracts or just a heredity coloring in their eyes (since they both have it)?

Also the lady we got them from had gotten them with plans to breed them but said she decided not to because she felt "like they had been through enough". Then she told me that they had not gone into heat since she got them 18 months ago. HUM! Anyway, is it normal for them to just stop going into heat at these ages? The vet info that she gave me said that they are unaltered. I don't have any intentions of breeding either of them, but I wondered if this might mean something is wrong. I am finding that I am pretty ignorant when it comes to these kind of things. All I know right now is that I have two sweet little doxies in my home that have never been loved before and I want to give them a good home. Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated. We are planning to take them to our vet soon but want to wait until they are more settled in. I realize that only the vet can answer my questions for sure, but if you have any ideas please share them with me especially with the behavorial issue.
TIA,
Paula

Hi Paula,

First let me say THANK YOU so much for saving these poor little babies. It sounds like they have had a terrible start in life. You definitely are their guardian angel. The following is just my 2 cents worth.

I think the first thing you need to do is get them to a vet as soon as possible. Don’t worry about them getting comfortable in your home, they may need immediate medical attention. There is always plenty of time to deal with behavior. I believe you want them physically healthy before mental healing can begin.

I’m assuming you have bathed them to get the bugs and dirt off. If Suzie is waddling around it sounds like she may be overweight, OR possible back problems etc. You didn’t say the color of these puppers, are they dapples? This might be the problem with their eyes. Double dapples have problems with their eyes and could possibly be deaf. You describe white spots on their eyes, do you really mean “white spots” or are the eyes opaque looking. If it is opaque, this could very well be cataracts. Since Lucy is young maybe she has juvenile cataracts. Cataracts can be caused by the aging process, injury or heredity. Again they need your vet’s attention.

The behavior is going to be the long haul. This will take lots of time and a great deal of patience. My best suggestion would be to contact a certified pet behaviorist. Ask your vet for advice on whom to contact. Or I have a list by states. Also I don’t know the age of your son, but since you have only had these dogs a short time I would make sure their “together time” is always supervised.

I’m a big fan of Cesar Millan “The Dog Whisperer”. If you have the National Geographic channel, I highly recommend watching his shows. He deals with the psychology of dogs not obedience training. He does have a book titled “Cesar’s Way” which I highly recommend. Another book would be “Dachshund for Dummies”.

I would not let Suzy or Lucy outside unsupervised as they may find a hole in your fence and be gone in the blink of an eye.

This is getting pretty long, so I am going to e-mail you.