Dina Says "I CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!"

Written by Dina's Foster Mom

To read previous posts on Dina click HERE.

Apparently my beautiful blonde bombshell Miss Dina Potter aka Deeny read my recent update. We talk about our fearful babies making baby steps of progress. It seems as if Dina has decided that baby steps are not sufficient. She's going for the gusto and for the big steps!

Dina used to run inside from potty trips and run right to the living room, jump onto the couch and make herself as small as she could by trying to insert herself in between the cushions and the back or side of the couch. We let her do that but occasionally we would go sit on the couch and put out an arm to give her skritches occasionally. Then she got to the point where she would nudge the hand for skritches. Then she started not being wedged tightly in the corner. Then a tad farther from the corner. NOW I will spot her right smack dab in the middle of the couch!!! :) Dare I say she also pesters anyone sitting on the couch with food to share? ;)

The last several days she has been coming to me wanting treats and is suddenly allowing me to shake her paw. She even takes her weight off the paw I choose to shake! Then I was able to scratch her head and then....reach out with my other hand and skritch with both hands at *one* time. :) That was a scary prospect because a human could *grab* when they had two hands out and I knew that's what she was afraid of.

Yesterday she let me reach very slowly and pick her up. She stayed in my lap for a while and then left BUT she did not go back on the couch. Instead she's been wandering around. :) She's been spending some time under the dining room table when Foster Dad is working there. To top it all off....she just came to me and "urrrred" at me to *tell* me to give her treats!!!!!!! Can you believe the amount of blooming she's done recently?

I've got tears in my eyes...and a lot less treats!

Dina Update!

Written by Dina's Foster Mom

To read previous posts on Dina click HERE.

Dina aka Deeny is making steps in the right direction. I pronounce her name like that of Dina Merrill (Deena) who was a classy and lovely blonde actress many years ago.

It was no surprise that Dina was very wary of people's touches after living in a mill for 9 years and being severely burned. She skitters around the humans in the house and outside in the dog run. She is quite a treat-a-holic though so she would stretch her neck as far as she could to accept a treat. Late this fall she began to put her feet up on my legs to facilitate the treat being handed over. :) Foster Dad and I were both thrilled. Foster Dad saves small pieces of apple, orange, sweet potato and sits on the floor in the living room to hand them out. Dina practically crawls into his lap to make sure she doesn't get forgotten. :) Recently she's started to let Foster Dad gently take a paw and say "shake hands" to get her treat. That is a huge step for her. She's also started to come to me at various times during the day and put her feet on my knees when I'm working at the computer. She knows there are treats handed out during the day so she believes she deserves her fair share. She's just started to let me take a paw with one hand while the other offers her a treat. I am thrilled for this classy looking, but oh so fearful girl, who is getting less fearful little by little.

Dina Update - Written By Her Foster Mom

To read previous blogs on Dina click here.


I had to do an update to show that she looks like a normal dog now as her nasty scars are totally covered by new coat. :) You can see that she still flattens her tail to her butt at times butttttttt ... I had quite an exciting day! Dina comes to get a tiny treat after I do Berry's eyes and she gets her treat. So Dina puts her feet up on my chair this afternoon and gets her treat. Feet down and then up again so I pet her. Feet down and then up again so I pet her again. Feet come up for the fourth time so I reach over and pick her up. She commences to stand on my body with her front paws on my chest. Then she *kisses* me on the nose while her tail is wagging!!! Wow, was I surprised! She's still a *tad* heavy so I turned her around so she could sit down at my side. Nooooo, she climbed up on my body again. Now it was getting close to dinner time so Gilly stood up to my left to kiss my face and persuade me to go feed him. I had my head turned so Dina kissed my ear. Another nice surprise and her tail was wagging again. Finally I succumbed to their blandishments and took them to the kitchen for dinner. Alan got home a few minutes later and she put her paws up on the front of the sofa and he picked her up and she settled right down to relax on his leg.

I chose the photos I did because you can see my pant leg in the one below so you can tell that she's comfortably close to me. And then there's the dandy single eye as she got even closer. :)

Some things still spook her or make her nervous but she gets over it more quickly. All in all I'm very pleased for and with her. :)

Dina - Saturday Update - Written By Her Foster Mom

To read previous blogs on Dina click here.


Miss Dina is doing great! She was unpleasantly surprised by mean ol’ Foster Mom picking her up Friday night and taking her to the big chair where everyone cuddles together. Whoa, this was not what Dina had in mind! She was quite scared, pretty much too scared to move. :( After a good 20 minutes or so of sitting on Foster Mom's leg and digging her front paws in she finally relaxed enough to lie down. I was able to stay in the chair with her for a good half hour longer before it was time to go outside to potty and off to bed.

This morning she came to me and put her feet up and was given some kibble for treats. She LIKES treats!!! :) Later she did the same with Foster Papa who picked her up and he, Janna, and Dina had a long nap. After another trip outside and dinner she came to me and put her paws up and seemed quite comfortable when I put my hands out and picked her up. She settled down to snooze right away so it's obvious she's a lot more relaxed! I am getting nothing done today except for wonderful progress with Miss Dina. Oh well, Foster Papa put some dinner in the oven. :) I hope you enjoy the photo of her in a different harness dress and Gilly in a matching harness vest.

Dina's Vet Appointment - Written By Her Foster Mom

To read previous blogs on Dina click here.

Miss Dina wanted to look good for her first outing. She wore a 100% cotton dress/harness for her visit to Dr. Pam where everyone OOoohhhhhed and Aaahhhhhed over her.

She did much better than I expected. I picked her up in the house and held her while my husband drove and continued to hold her until I put her on the table for the vet to examine. She was nervous but didn't try to do any jumping around. My vet looked at her and decided NOT to take out her stitches. She said that for sutures that are holding together skin that was pulled together to cover an open area 2 to 3 weeks would be fine for stitch removal. That made me happy as I prefer to be cautious. We'll be back next Friday to have her stitches removed.

Dina needed a rabies shot as the staff in Chicago forgot to do that before she left. When assured that the only other vaccination was done April 10th at the shelter my vet was willing to give her the rabies vaccination. She's very good about NOT giving vaccinations to a sick or stressed dog....which is stated on every vial of vaccines.

I have permission to bathe Dina with Malaseb and scrub her (other than her owies) with the Zoom Groom to get the crud off her skin. My fingers couldn't resist pulling stray hairs off the tips of her ears in the car and when the little clumps of hairs came off so easily with dark gunk at the roots it was obvious that the beautiful darkness of her ears is at least partially yeast. So she's to get Listerine gold wiped on her ears twice daily.

Dina is 19 lbs. and has bilateral luxating patellas so Dr. Pam told me to continue to feed her lightly so she doesn't gain weight. We both feel it would not hurt her to loose a pound or two. Maybe in the next week we'll try a short walk to the park to start exercising her body and getting her muscles and ligaments built up to give strength to her knees.

This is more than you probably wanted to know....but I'm glad for the way things went today. I think it's about time to start holding her every day for a few minutes. She's doing a great job of being part of the pack here, but with her skin problems she's going to have to get used to being touched and held.

Dina Update For Wednesday And Thursday - Written By Her Foster Mom

To read previous blogs on Dina click here.


Yesterday was kind of quiet and we seemed to go a bit backwards as Dina didn't seem to want to be in the living room with everyone else. I finally got smart and opened the wire crate in the living room so she could go into it. That made all the difference in the world. She spent all afternoon and evening there with the door open.

Bigger and better things today: we got some tail wags and Dina is a lot more willing and able to take treats from my fingers. I don't have to stretch my arm as far as it will go to get her to take a treat (kibble) from my fingers anymore. She is coming closer and closer. She will come back repeatedly for repeat treats. She will come when another dog is getting treats to see if she gets extras AND her tail is not always pointing down!!!

I came downstairs the other morning to find that dear hubby had taken all the dogs out together so I continued with that. Dina wore her leash and I dropped it to the ground when outside, but I made sure I could grab it if she began to have problems with another dog. Today she's following the other kids in and out without a leash.

Tomorrow morning we'll take her to my vet to get her stitches out. That's NOT going to make her happy as she's still not happy to be held. Please keep her in your thoughts.

Dina - Tuesday Update - Written By Her Foster Mom

Dina seemed to be bothering her owie last night so Alan and I corralled her and put a little shirt on her. She wasn't happy about it....but *I* sure slept better knowing that there was some protection for her stitches! Dina is getting a tad of interaction with the other kids as Gilly (my beloved hooligan) pushed down the gate and came over to say hello. She and Gilly did a cute circle "dance" sniffing each other and seemed to find each other very acceptable.

I had to bring Dina in the living room with me today as she was again bothering her sides and she's now sleeping under the table to the left of my chair. We are *finally* seeing Dina do something in the dog run besides potty (still perfect!) and walk/run back and forth. Today she can SIT which makes me very happy. Obviously she's getting more relaxed. The first one she's actually sitting near me...old poison ivy. ;) As long as I was looking in the other direction it was okay for a minute. The last photo is her reply to a question I asked her. I asked her what she thinks of puppy mills and shelters as opposed to foster homes. :)

Dina - Monday Morning Update - Written By Her Foster Mom

Good morning, Dina! I opened Dina's crate and managed to clip the leash to her collar. I had to move away from the open crate as far as possible before Dina would come out. She then walked outside with me and peed and pooped like a very good girl. No accidents inside so far!

This morning after her potty trip I didn't fix breakfast immediately. She popped out of her crate and came to the kitchen gate repeatedly which is more than she did all day yesterday.

Dina didn't want to eat with me sitting on the kitchen floor today. I finally got all the way down on my side and pushed the bowl closer to her crate. Then she came part way out and ate. She may have been intimidated due to all the whining, yowling, and fussing from Janna and Berry with backup singing from Gilly who prefer to be in the kitchen when I'm preparing breakfast.

After breakfast she spent a lot of time standing at the gate looking out at her housemates.

We went out for the after breakfast potty and again she peed very readily. It looked obvious to me that she had been "holding it" for her trip outside.

We've heard bits of vocalization from Dina. She's probably objecting to being in the kitchen where she can't see me or the other dogs. Hmmm, make that just the other dogs! She still treats me like I'm poison ivy. :(

I'm thinking of moving her to the hallway where she can see what we are doing in the living room.

I made her appointment to get her stitches out on Friday morning. I sure hope I can get her more comfortable with me before then.

Dina's Surgery Update

Dina's surgery was 100% SUCCESSFUL!

The surgeon was able to clean both wounds completely and removed all of the infection and all the bad tissue from the wounds. The wounds were not extremely deep, so the surgeon didn't have to go into the muscle, only through Dina's fatty layer, to get the wounds cleaned out. The best news is that they were able to find enough skin to stretch over the large wound to completely cover it! While it's a little tight right now and her range of movement is a little limited, as it heals it should stretch enough to make it very comfortable and not cause her any problem.

But there's more GOOD news! Because they were able to get each of the wounds totally covered, Dina won't need to have wet to dry bandaging. As far as the surgeon can see, there should be no further surgery needed and by limiting her activity and keeping her calm during her healing period she should enjoy a full recovery! The racing stripes on Dina's sides are all healed over and there isn't anything further they can do surgically to improve this, but I'm guessing CP's "experts" will come up with something to help improve that burned area on Dina as well.

Dina is wearing an E-collar to keep her from trying to investigate her surgery, but is resting comfortably. She should be finished with her pain medication and antibiotics this Friday and ready to travel to her foster mama, Bonnie B. this weekend!!!

Another CP miracle thanks to the prayers, positive energy and thoughts that were generated for this little girl!!! Dina now gets to have her happily ever after! THANK YOU to everyone who helps support Col. Potter and makes these type of miracles possible for little mill mamas like Dina!!!

Special Prayers Needed For A Special Mom - Written by CPCRN VP of Intakes

We don't know what really happened to her, only she knows for sure, and she can't tell us. We have some facts and we have some theory. Following is a little of each:

Enter Col. Potter. We checked on a Cairn at a shelter almost two weeks ago and were told she was going to another Cairn rescue group. When we checked back to make sure the other group had taken her, we discovered they had backed out from rescuing her and she once again needed Col. Potter's help.

Dina officially became a Col. Potter kid last week and was taken to one of our vets for her boarding and examination of what would be needed to treat her skin condition. We weren't prepared for what the vet gave us for a diagnosis -- rather than skin allergies or skin infections, the diagnosis was solar burns. How would she possibly get them? We don't know for sure, but I have my ideas and I would like to share them with you.

It was a very cold and snowy winter in Wisconsin, especially hard on PM Mamas and their babies. There was record snowfall and record cold temperatures. All of this made it extremely difficult for mamas and their babies to survive in these elements. Some millers, in an effort to provide heat and keep babies from freezing to death in these conditions, will put a heating pad or electric blanket in the kennel with the mama and her babies. Some will also use a heating lamp. Sometimes the lamps burn or short out, taking away the heat and the babies freeze to death. Sometimes the heating pads or heating blankets will short out and stop working and sometimes they will get so hot along the coils, they will burn the mama and kill the babies while shorting out. This is what I think happened to one little, 9 year old mill mama sometime in March. Now having no more need for an old female whose babies were dead and she was scarred, she was sold at auction as having a hormonal, skin condition. The buyer, discovering it was more than that, dumped her at a shelter where she was diagnosed as having a bad skin condition, was spayed and then determined she was not adoptable because of her skin issues and she was too shy.

Now, it really doesn't matter how Dina got the wounds she has. What matters is what can be done for her and can she survive it. Dina has two "racing stripes" of burns running down both her sides. On the right side, the burn terminates under her front leg with a quarter size open wound, but on the left side, the burn terminates under her front leg with a gaping 4" open wound. On top of all of this, her skin is extremely thin and in bad shape. The vet isn't sure if there is enough good skin to stretch over the large open wound, or even come close. Nor is it known how deep the wound is or what other damage may exist in the burn and wound areas as Dina is so uncomfortable, they can't fully examine her. I've attached the shelter picture of Dina. You can see the brown "racing stripe" running down her left side.

Tomorrow Dina will undergo exploratory surgery to start with to determine the extent of the injuries and if it's possible to cover the wound where it will ultimately heal, and to control any infection. If this can be done, then the surgeon will continue and repair the wounds, clean out the infection and whatever else is needed to get Dina on the road to recovery. However, if the surgeon determines that Dina's injuries are too severe, that her skin cannot stretch to cover and heal, that it would be too painful and require many more surgeries to even give her a chance, she will call me and Dina will be allowed to go to the Rainbow Bridge where she won't have to ever suffer again.

Dina can use all your prayers, positive energy and good thoughts tomorrow to guide the surgeon in finding all the infection, being able to find enough good skin to stretch over the wounds, not finding anything else major wrong deeper down and to Dina to have the strength and Cairn will to come through the surgery and recuperate. Even if the surgery is successful tomorrow, Dina will have a long road ahead of her with wet to dry bandaging to remove the dead burned skin from her sides and hopefully allow new, healthy skin to replace it. She will need frequent bandage changes on her wounds, medication to fight the infection and who knows what else this little girl has been living with.

I will keep everyone updated tomorrow and hope that I only have GOOD news to report. Please join me in sending SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR THIS SPECIAL MOM ... Dina, we love you little girl and I'm only thinking positive thoughts of the report I'm going to get from the surgeon at the conclusion of the surgery when you are on your way to recovery ...