When Vanessa and her husband decided to foster a little blind MinPin named Wally, little did they know he would steal their hearts. Vanessa writes, “…sometimes I think our hearts may explode rainbows and butterflies.” Read their beautiful love story:
How does a couple describe the love of their lives? How is there room in their hearts when they already feel fulfilled with love for each other and their two hairless rescue dogs? The answer is simple…I don’t know! But I do know that I will try because Wally needs his story told.
For a little background about this little lovebug, named Wally, you must first know that he is blind. He is blind because he doesn’t have eyes and because he doesn’t have eyes, he can’t see. Now that we’ve cleared that up, you must also know that he absolutely doesn’t need them. He can walk on a leash, jump on the couch, find his bed, burrow under covers, chase birds, and play with dogs at the dog park, among many other things. To put it lightly, he is a miracle dog.
Prior to his life at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, his life is unimaginable. He was found blindly running around the beach and when he arrived at Muttville, he looked like he had been cast to play a role in a scary movie. In addition to the cloudiness and the redness in his eyes, they were bugged out and had growths on them. An emergency vet visit gave the prognosis that he had an untreated eye infection that ruptured his corneas. The ruptured corneas caused him to go blind and was so painful, all he could do was scratch his eyes, shake, and cry. Because of this, it was a no brainer that the only solution was to remove his eyes. Luckily he has an amazing sense of smell and perfect hearing so he adjusted quickly. However, once his eyes were healed, he had a backward sneeze that caused him to constantly regurgitate, which made it hard for him to gain weight and absorb much needed nutrients. Another vet visit showed that he had MRSA (a staph infection). Luckily, it was treated quickly and he has mostly recovered. I say mostly because he still has a severe reverse sneeze, pukes at least once a day, and has the worst breath you could imagine! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
I was a volunteer dog walker at Muttville when I met Wally but it wasn’t until my husband and I watched him over a weekend while his foster mom was out of town that I realized how special he is. That weekend turned into a week, which turned into a month, which turned into forever! We started out by fostering him through Muttville but realized after a short time that we could never part with him so made it official by filling out the adoption paperwork in June 2012. Since then, he has become our heater box, snuggle buddy, secret holder, conversation starter, heart warmer, guard dog, and anxiety reliever.
While it is true that he has been known to pee on a stranger’s shoe because he confused it for a rock or a tree, and it is also true that he has severe separation anxiety that makes it impossible to leave him alone for longer than an hour or two, he has completely stolen our hearts and filled us with so much joy, sometimes I think our hearts may explode rainbows and butterflies.
Caring for a dog that is considered special needs does have its challenges, but the love that he gives and the fact that he asks for so little makes it a breeze. Thank you Muttville for showing us that we can open our hearts to more love. We absolutely can not imagine our lives without Wally who has affectionately collected numerous nicknames such as Walter J Bird, Willy, Sir Walter J, and Wallaceburg.
12/4/13
Are you the proud parent of a Muttville dog? Send us your story! Include three of your favorite photos and send it to success_stories@muttville.org with the subject line 'Success Story'.
