Logan, the Lonely Sheltie

original post: Logan is fully trained to sit and shake. He does not care to sit on the furniture. He does bark at strangers, he gets along with other dogs and children. He likes to spend his day in his dog bed on the front porch watching the birds (just like my Reckless did) or snoozing at my feet. Logan greets everyone with a gentle wag of his tail, and he is truly a wonderful boy.

It’s going to take a special person to adopt Logan, and as successful as we have been at finding the right homes for the right dogs, I believe Logan will be our biggest challenge. So for now, he will stay with me until he lets me know what he would like for me to do for him.

While he is here, it is being made very clear to him that he is now part of our family, and he likes that!

Logan has some medical issues, and we’re bound and determined to get down to the bottom of it (pardon the pun.) Logan is being evaluated with our vet, and as I write this, he is being x-rayed and bloodwork is being completed to find out what’s wrong with him.

Logan arrived yesterday, only because a wonderful volunteer named Jerri drove from Hollywood to Deltona, no questions asked. Once he arrived, we noticed his horrible condition, years and years of neglect. His very thin, his eyes are not clear, and his coat needed a lot of work.

He was allegedly given to a dog trainer after his owners noticed he had problems relieving himself.  I guess he had accidents in the house.  Sometimes he was constipated, sometimes he was runny.  Instead of working on diet, or taking him to the vet, they got rid of him.  The trainer had him for a very long time; he too couldn’t “get rid” of him.  How sad.  A senior dog should get more respect than this.

Our groomer Mary went right to work, and we’ve provided some before and after photos to prove it!

Logan is great with kids, and other dogs, but he’s not feeling well enough to play right now. Right now, his favorite thing is a brush, and lap to put his foot ontop of. He slept next to my bed all night, and when my daughter went to school this morning, he cried by the door, begging for her to come back.

Logan can sit and shake on a dime, but I believe he has been taught NOT to get on furniture, obviously, he doesn’t know that this is Border Collie Boot Camp, where manners count, and furniture doesn’t. Here are some photos after his grooming.


At first glance, I estimated that Logan was about 10 years old. However, today at the vet, he confirmed that Logan was only 7 years old, or younger. I busted out crying. Why? Even my Reckless when she was 14 1/2 years old, looked better than Logan.

I can not wait for the vet to have a diagnosis, and to give me a plan for Logan’s road to recovery. He’s going to make someone very very happy, I just know it.

Click Here to see Logan in our latest video.

Update 01/25/10: Logan is much older than expected, possibly 12, give or take! He is very underweight, and is being treated for coccidia. Dr. Evers is going to put him on Metoclopramide and an other drug that will help his body get back in sync. However, after brushing Logan, I myself noticed that he’s much more frail than I realized.

Dr. Evers and I discussed the grim facts about Logan. He simply is not adoptable; but what does this mean? Who would adopt such an older dog knowing that he may only have a few years left in him. I know Dr. Evers is right, but I can’t help but see the glass half full. Logan is heartworm negative, and if I can just reverse the damage down to his intestines and colon, through diet and medication, maybe I can make this boy healthy again. Only the next few days will tell if I’m on the right track, but his appetite is very good! Should he experience another bowel obstruction, which is not only painful, but life-threatening, I will decide at that time to chance my course of action.  Until then, I am making him home made food, and he is enjoying every bite… he reminds me when it’s time to eat, but I know he is in pain.

01/31/10:  Logan has taken a turn for the worse. It’s obvious now that he is much older than first thought, and regardless of what we do, he continues to get weaker, and his pain is increasing.

After consulting with the staff at our vet, because he is suffering, and nothing can be done, they concur that euthanasia is the only option. It’s a hard pill for me to swallow.  The day belonged to Logan.  I did everything for him.

02/01/10:  I took Logan to the vet today.  I held him in my arms, and whispered to him, I prayed and I cried.  He left peacefully, and he left warm and loved.  I could not let him suffer any longer.  The system failed Logan.  His medical condition was ignored.  Instead of finding out why he had digestive problems, he was labeled a bad dog.  His owners should be ashamed of themselves.

The autopsy revealed that Logan had a fairly large tumor that had been growing for quite some time. A biopsy was not performed.