Stanley

Stanley is a rescue JRT. I was doing my dog trainer apprenticeship at a shelter when he was surrendered. He needed to be adopted by a family without children as he had been teased and chased by his original owner�s children. It took me 45 minutes to gain his trust before he would let me approach him, but I knew there was a great little dog waiting to emerge, so I was patient with him. He is 13-years-old now and has been a true joy. Sadly, last year he had abnormal lab tests and suffered a couple of seizures. Then, his left eye started to swell and the vet treated him for glaucoma�but the medication made it worse!! He was suffering and I was over the try this and that� I said get that eye out now!! I also said the eye needed to be sent to a lab because something was going on and it wasn�t glaucoma!! He came thru the surgery fine, but when they got the lab results back, they were completely taken off guard� there was a parasite behind his eye� now, they said he had �river blindness�! Amazingly, his labs returned to normal and he has not had a seizure since. I did drive him cross country to an eye specialist to have them check out his other eye and so far so good� just cloudy from aging. I have been so surprised how well he gets along with one eye� I recently had cataract surgery and I was a mess trying to navigate stairs� Stanley charges up them like he did as a younger dog. For our annual Christmas photo last year, I ordered eye patches for Stanley and my husband, just like the JRT in �The Tales of the Gold Monkey�! However, I had to start putting a disclaimer in the envelopes because people thought it was my husband that had something happen to his eye! I have had soooo many dogs in my lifetime, but never one that has the resiliency like Stanley � he doesn�t miss a beat, even after losing one eye!