MANFRED MAN
( Nitro)

2/26/08: Nitro's new name fits him to a T. He's full of energy. Nitro streaks across the backyard like a rocket. He was rather quiet and shy at first, but it sure didn't take him long to overcome that. He has a wonderful personality and is just full of himself.

Nitro was left homeless, through no fault of his own, when his owner passed away. All he wants and needs is a new home with someone to love him and play with him.

Nitro has a very unusual coat color. He is black with some white hair mixed in here and there. If you look close, you can see some on his muzzle. He looks like he might be an older boy, but he isn't. Nitro is neutered, on heartworm preventive and current on his vaccinations. He is house trained and crate trained.

Doesn't he look great since he gained a little weight?

I believe Mr. Nitro has settled in!!

8/15/08: This pretty boy needs his own home.

Click here to watch Nitro in action!

9/20/08: Today, Nitro got a new home - his forever home. Ruth and Sandie from Hendersonville NC drove down to Marietta GA to meet Nitro and Shrek. Since Shrek is having some medical issues, they decided to take Nitro today and if Shrek's next check up is a good one, they may adopt him, too. Way to go, Nitro, and thank you, Ruth and Sandie. We'll post a picture in a few days.

9/21/08: Hi, Cindy- I just came upstairs to the computer, and was about to write to you. It was a pleasure to meet Jane, Tim, and Celia - and especially to meet the boys, who are both wonderful in different ways. We're so happy to have Nitro with us, and Sadie the Boxer is simply thrilled. We'll be sending positive thoughts, keeping fingers crossed, etc. for Shrek's repeat bloodwork to come out well.

Nitro was a very good traveler on the long drive home: no car sickness at all, and he's a very quiet rider. Laid down and rested on the highway, stood up and looked around during the stop-and-go driving.

We took him to the backyard first, where he sniffed and marked to his heart's content. Poor Sandie's flower border is in for a shock with a male dog in the family (Zeus the Chow's hips had left him unable to urinate with lifted leg in his last years); but as she said while watching him water the flowers, "dogs matter much more than plants." Then we brought Sadie out to the yard, where they ran around together and played a bit between his determined efforts to leave no object unsniffed. After a while, Nitro went to the screen door, curious about the house, so we went inside. Again, he explored thoroughly and systematically; this is a very smart dog, you can watch him figuring things out.

The evening went very smoothly for all. Nitro ate a fair amount of his dinner, which was encouraging after such an eventful day. He will sit for treats, which is lovely; and ate his cephalexin in a bit of hot dog since we had no cream cheese on hand. He and Sadie played a bit, both in the house and in the yard; he comes to the door on his own, so it's no hassle to get him back inside. He spent the evening lying down close to either me or Sandie, which was a pleasant surprise after so short a time. He's starting to wag tail when we talk to him, which is wonderful progress. I discovered that he likes being petted around the jowls, probably because it doesn't involve the scary hand going over his head. We weren't expecting him to accept much if any physical contact at first, so this is a big step. Hopefully we'll all have lots of time together as a family, so he can take as long as he needs to become comfortable and bond with us; good things are worth waiting for.

Er, the photo. I really hate being the subject of photos, but understand that you want an adoption photo for all the dogs, so we'll see what we can do.

By the way, I'd be happy to help if you ever need a Pei evaluated or picked up in this area. If we adopt Shrek as well, we wouldn't have room for foster dogs; but I'd be glad to check out dogs at area shelters or owner homes and help to get them to you.

Thanks so much to you and Jane and Tim for allowing us to bring Nitro home; we'll be looking forward to ongoing news on Shrek. Take care-Ruth

9/23/08: Hi, Jane- I know exactly what you mean, and how you both must be feeling. There were so very many animals over my years in sheltering that won a special place in the hearts of the staff members. When one would finally be adopted into a home we felt good about, our conversations for days thereafter would always involve wondering how they were doing, what they were up to, etc. In sheltering, you never (or very rarely) heard from adopters when things were going well, but always heard when there were problems. So when a week or two post-adoption would go by with no word on our special animal, we'd all breathe a sigh of relief.

You and Tim truly worked wonders with this boy. I have seen many many Shar Pei over the years in shelters, and have yet to see one who did well in that environment. What you see is a confused, frightened animal who has seen his world fall apart in ways he/she just can't handle. A few become defensively aggressive, most just hide and try to disappear; almost all are too overwhelmed to accept the comfort they need from strangers on staff. It takes real insight to see through the in-shelter behavior to find the potential within that animal; and it takes tremendous patience and dedication to work with that animal to slowly bring that potential to life. Nitro now is a very intelligent, confident boy with a real sense of himself, and the ability and willingness to learn to slowly trust others; thank you for having confidence in us to help him continue to realize his potential.

We know it will take some time for Nitro to really bond with us, but we are tremendously encouraged by the progress he's already made - far more than we expected in so short a time. He was a bit wary of us again when we first got up today, but still wagged when we talked to him; and soon he was lying beside us again and allowing petting around his jowls and chest. He does this funny bit when you pet his jowls, lifting the ear on the side you're petting: really adorable. He's not showing any possession issues with his things: food, toys, chews, bed, etc., for which we're very grateful. He and Sadie are getting along very well, and she is beside herself to have a dog young enough to play with her.

When you mentioned the food bowl with curved sides, are you talking about the stainless steel "no-slip" bowls that usually come with rubber around the outer bottom rim? He clearly doesn't like the large crock bowls we have, and we'd like to get the type that work better for him. He is eating better today, though not his full ration; that will come in time, and getting the right type of bowl will help.

Thanks again for all you have done for him, and for letting us take so much time to get to know him a bit at your home-Ruth

9/27/08: Nitro is doing very very well; his adjustment has gone much more smoothly and quickly than we'd anticipated. He and Sadie the Boxer are already great friends, sometimes sharing a dog bed as well as playtime. He spends a good bit of time curled up beside either Sandie or me, and has accepted and is enjoying petting much sooner than we'd hoped. He's just a thoroughly great boy, and we're so happy to have him with us. Thanks again for letting us adopt him, and for all you do for the Pei- Ruth

11/7/08: Mr. Nitro is doing great, and continues to be a delight. We're now calling him Shadow, BTW; we started calling him our big black shadow because he follows us everywhere, and it stuck. Not the most original name, I fear, but it fits his behavior perfectly. He is the most curious dog: has to be right with us, so he doesn't miss a thing. Settles down and sleeps beside us when we're reading or watching TV.

His first vet appointment went well, though he was predictably shy. Actually he knew where we were before I even opened the door, and he really didn't want to go in; thank god for martingales. My vet has much experience with Shar Pei, thankfully; he took time to just talk and get to know the boy before he started the exam; even took the leash from me and walked him up and down the hall alone, which helped greatly. He said he's in much better health than many if not most Shar Pei, which is delightful news but not surprising. He does have a broken right upper canine tooth with exposed root (wonder when and how that happened?), and has an appointment scheduled for that and for routine bloodwork to establish a baseline for his files.

Meanwhile Sadie the Boxer started limping on one rear leg recently, and Sandie took her in for Xrays etc. She's been diagnosed with both severe hip dysplasia (which is bad enough) and spondylosis, which is much much worse; she just turned 6, so it's unexpected as well as bad news. Guess we shouldn't be too surprised: she was a pet store puppy surrendered to the shelter at 12 weeks when the buyers realized they'd bought more than they could handle. This no doubt means puppy mill, so genetic disasters are always possible if not likely. Sandie is trying hard not to dwell on it, and just to enjoy Sadie day by day while keeping a close eye on her comfort level and mobility. She's of course on Cosequin and NSAIDs, but they only do so much.

Shadow has bonded more closely with Sandie than with me; he likes and enjoys me and I love him dearly, but when he has a choice he spends most time with Sandie. At first I was rather disappointed, because I'd hoped the next dog would bond with me as Panda did; but given what's going on with Sadie, I'm happy for Sandie. It will help her a lot to have Shadow close at hand as Sadie inevitably deteriorates. Meanwhile, the two dogs adore each other, spend lots of time playing in the house and backyard, and sometimes curl up together on the same dog bed. Shadow is not at all possessive of his food or toys; they will snatch toys from each other's mouths and race around trying to steal them back; it's fun to watch, and such a relief after years of managing Zeus' unvarying dominance.

Introducing Shadow to the cats was not a success, I'm afraid. His interest in them was so intense, laser-like in focus, that he paid absolutely no attention to us or anyone else with a cat in sight. It made the cats very nervous, and I just wasn't comfortable with it; wasn't willing to put the cats at risk by continuing to try it. This may be excess caution on my part, but I can't think of any way to continue trying it without risk to the cats. And it's simply not worth it; the cats have been used to living upstairs for years when Zeus was here, and they don't miss what they haven't had. We knew it would be a long shot at best, and we're fine with it; we adore this boy and wouldn't trade him for the world.

Shadow has decided, by the way, that his favorite toys in all the world are the ones called "Look Who's Talking:" they're small plush animals with a soundbox that makes the sound of the appropriate animal. He particularly loves the chick, even though Sadie promptly killed the soundbox; now the pig is his favorite. Unfortunately, these toys have been on the market for many years and are no longer the latest thing, thus are hard to find; the local store only had the cat, and that seems like a very poor idea (lol). Will have to look online for a source so I can find him some new friends. He will play with these endlessly, sometimes playing fetch and sometimes keep away, then curl up with them beside him in his dog bed. You can barely see the toy in that big meat mouth, so it's pretty funny to see him run up to you sounding like a pig...

Take care, and thanks again to you and Jane and Tim for sharing this wonderful guy with us-
Ruth

2/21/09: The boy is doing just great, and still spends his days glued to Sandie's side. I get time with him after she goes to bed, or if she goes out on her own.

We just came back from a few days' mini-vacation, and this time weren't able to take the dogs. We were a bit concerned about how Shadow would react: he is so closely bonded with Sandie, and needs time to get to know strangers. We had the petsitter just come and visit several times, so he could get to know her; then tried leaving the house and having her enter on her own when we weren't home. He came to regard her as a family friend, and did just fine while we were gone; she said on her second visit, he came to the door dragging his bed to present to her. Did he think she was tired?? Surely he wasn't planning to play fetch with his bed??

Now we need to work on getting him to accept the groomer. Neither Sandie nor I have good knees these days, so we tried taking him to our groomer for the periodic baths he needs. On the last visit, something freaked him out while going in the door, perhaps an ambulance going by with sirens; now it's impossible to get him in the door without unacceptable stress. We're going to try having the groomer visit the house, as we did with the petsitter; hopefully that will help. Jeff, the groomer, is very experienced and gentle with the dogs (Zeus the Chow loved him, and that was very high praise), so we're hopeful that in time Shadow will accept him.

He is truly a wonderful dog, super smart, always interesting, and always loving; it's hard to remember life without him.

Take care-
Ruth

3/6/2010: This is our boy who is now affectioately known as Manfred Mann, the manatee mouth sleeping on a bed next to my computer.  He has to be right next to where ever we are.  I'll try to get some more pictures but I'm really terrible both with the camera and about taking pictures.
 
Sandie Morton and Ruth Bauer