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MiloMilo came to Old Dog Heaven on February 3, 2024 from Arizona. He was abandoned and picked up outside as a stray. He had an enormous 11-pound tumor the size of a basketball growing out of his chest. After a couple weeks in the shelter, they decided to operate since his blood work was good and the tumor was not cancerous. After a few days of recovery, Milo was shuttled to Old Dog Heaven.
Milo has many, many very difficult issues. It turns out that his person was in and out of prison so he was passed around to family who would throw him in the backyard. He also ended up in the shelter repeatedly. He has been abandoned over and over his entire life. This has produced terrible separation anxiety, as well as general anxiety. He is always on edge, uncertain of what is happening. He is in terrible, terrible anguish. We are working on a very regimented schedule to help him feel stable as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, Milo is also showing increasing aggression toward Rocky and other dogs. It is possible that the surgery and all the change have given him prolonged aggression since notes in his file say he was friendly with other dogs. It is also possible that the person who found him and brought him to the shelter was not accurate in her description. He is an entirely different dog from what she described. Milo is in great pain. Please pray that he will understand what it means to be safe and loved so that he can settle into life at Old Dog Heaven. <3 ***
Milo was one of the saddest cases to come to Old Dog Heaven. After 14 years of being repeatedly abandoned (in and out of the shelter, passed around to a bunch of different people), Milo did not have the capacity to self-regulate in any way. He had no frame of reference for being in a stable, loving home. Everything was traumatizing, even my walking into another room. In addition, adding a traumatic surgery into the mix was devastating to a 14 year old dog who had no home.
Milo's intense psychological anguish required sedation, which left him loopy and unhappy. It became clear very early on that I was not going to be able to rehabilitate Milo and give him a happy last chapter. After meeting with a trainer, it became evident that even with months of intense training, Milo was unlikely to improve much. Forcing him to work hard for months on end while in the meantime at every single moment he was worried about being left behind was no kind of life. I shifted from trying to work with him to lavishing him with love and affection. We spent hours snuggling and he deeply bonded to me. Though he could not experience security, he did receive and show love. When I knew that he understood I loved him and that he was no longer alone, I made the brutal decision to euthanize him to finally give him peace. I cried many, many tears over my short time with him. I crawled into bed with him as we waited for the vet. I whispered into his ear that he would never be abandoned again. Milo passed away on February 20th at 3:37 pm. I spooned him as he died. ***
This was a devastating experience for me, especially after the sudden loss of both Tank and Mr. Man. Humans failed this boy. He deserved a much better life. God forgive us for all we do to harm your creation.
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