Most of you are familiar with our Sussex Spaniel, Nell, but I wanted to show you how much Nell has changed since we brought her here to live with us last August (2007).

When she arrived last August, she was underweight, full of fleas, and a terrible skin allergy. She would fall asleep in her food bowl and was so weak, would fall going down and up the steps in the backyard. We do not know what happened to her right ear, as it is shorter and has a tear in it from some awful injury.

This is the second “retired” dog we have had directly from their breeder, and the second time we realized that we had actually rescued these dogs. The first was our beloved collie who died last summer after many years of loyal companionship (she was a big Lassie dog, who came to us with no fur and weighed about 35 pounds … you can search under “collie” on my blog for her pictures). The second of course is our Nell-Dog.

I contacted a Sussex Spaniel breeder (after losing Lolly) about possible puppies (I’ve wanted a Sussex for some time), and figured I would have to be on a waiting list for years because they are so rare. The breeder emailed me and said “no puppies”, but I have a sweet adult female who has retired and needs a home … no fee, just come pick her up.” We jumped at the opportunity, and my husband drove to another state to pick her up.

There were some things in that early communication that made me wonder about this dog, such as the breeder not knowing the dog’s age, and the fact that she ignored my requests for a picture. Odd, but not enough to stop the journey. When my husband arrived home with Nell, I thought “are you sure that’s a sussex spaniel”? She looked awful. She was wet when my husband got there (he called about 30 minutes from their house) and she had fur just whacked off of her – in some spots down to her skin (obviously to get rid of some dreadful mats). This was not a typical “grooming” of a purebred show dog. They mentioned to my husband that just that morning they had seen one flea on her … the first flea they had ever had on any of their dogs (uh huh), so they dipped her. She was full of fleas (that “one” flea was very productive). Nell’s skin was covered in a red rash … both from flea bites and an allergy.

They sent an envelope with “Nell’s” information. No birth date. No vet records except for a rabies certificate with a dog’s name blacked out and Nell’s written on it (something our vet said should never be done … if a cert is printed incorrectly, it should be corrected and reprinted). Other than gender and breed, nothing on this certificate matched the dog sitting in front of us.

So, our dear, sweet, wonderful vet, tended to this poor dog. Fresh vaccinations. Steroids and antihistamines for the skin trouble. Appropriate flea medicine. And a recommendation to gain 15 pounds. Within 24 hours, Nell was feeling better. Within a month, she was stronger, gaining weight and practically “flying” around our backyard with the joy a dog should have. By December, we took her to our groomer who started working to bring Nell back to the beauty of a Sussex Spaniel. Obviously her right ear can’t grow longer, but our groomer is working to let that ear’s hair grow as long as possible and trimming the hair on the left ear to bring them as close to even as possible.

The breeder also told us that “Nell loves her crate and should be placed in there for several weeks until she is use to you”. Ha! Within two days, Nell was looking at her crate like “hey, could we get this thing out of the way please”. She hasn’t been in her crate since. She didn’t “love” her crate, she just had no other options.

Today, Nell is a little over her assigned weight, but the new basset pup is helping increase Nell’s exercise. Nell is happy, itch-free (she’ll be on allergy medicine for the rest of her life), and very funny. She was chasing a butterfly the other day in the backyard, and while keeping her keen eyes on the butterfly, she failed to notice the fence and ran right into it. She sat down, shook her head, looked around and ran off for another butterfly.

The breeder who knew nothing about us and handed this considerably rare breed dog over to total strangers has never checked on Nell, and I stopped emailing them when I received no responses.

I feel sorry for purebred dogs that work to make puppies for their breeders (these are AKC breeders, not the kind you see in the Walmart parking lot), and then just are neglected when they can’t make more puppies. I am NOT saying that all breeders are like that, because I know they are not. I am grateful that we could give the Nell-dog a home and a comfy retirement.

So, that is the story and the transformation of the Nell-Dog. Oh, oddly enough, I pulled out that incorrect rabies cert that came with Nell and used a flashlight to see if I could read the name of the Sussex it belonged to, and it says “Sophie”! I did not know that when I named our new basset pup a few weeks ago.

OneMom (with One Husband, One Child, and Two Dogs)

PS: Here’s a picture of our collie, Lolly, who died last summer of Canine Dementia. She was a beautiful, grateful and loyal dog. She literally appeared to float over the ground when she walked