Success Story: Pharoah

Meet Pharoah, one of the puppies from the Graham 8. Breaking the city law of only 3 dogs in a household, we brought Pharoah home thinking, “he’s just a puppy, surely someone will adopt him within a couple of weeks.”

Then the unthinkable happened. He contracted Distemper. People tell me I should have seen this coming. What most of you don’t know about me is my terrible luck with foster dogs. Three out of the four dogs fostering with me this year experienced horrible medical issues (megaesophagus, a strange blood parasite, Distemper). So here I sat with the most well adjusted Basenji boy I’ve ever seen at Death’s door. “Seriously, Lord, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Even my vet’s office found this humorous in a black comedy sort of way. We decided to fight the Distemper even though our doc recommended letting him go.

My husband and I took turns carrying the little B boy to our respective jobs every day for weeks. We fed and watered him with food syringes when he refused to eat. And we cuddled him while he whined from discomfort until he recovered from the worst. And then the neurological side raised its nasty head. Pharoah’s right shoulder began to twitch. I’m not talking that small almost heartbeat movement you get when your eye twitches. I mean the jump that happens when a doctor hits your knee with that silly hammer. And it kept twitching and twitching. And then it began to spread to the hind leg.

I will say with complete sincerity BRAT is WONDERFUL! The support was amazing. Many nights I called one lady or another in tears, not knowing what to do. They calmed me down and advised me and let me try all sorts of medicine, acupuncture, etc. in order to keep the spasms from spreading further or becoming permanent in the hind quarter. Thank you again for that!

Then Bomba took over. Bomba is another Basenji boy we brought home around the same time as Pharoah. Bomba is older by 9 months and came from a wonderful home with an amazing trainer/breeder. He decided enough with the babying, Pharoah just needed some good rough Basenji love. Before we knew it the two boys were bouncing off walls, jumping off sofas and performing the Basenji 500 around our house. And. Pharoah. Loved it. He muscled up and thrived. That was the deciding factor. Bomba knew what Pharoah needed and continues to be his physical therapist. But he is also Pharoah’s protector. No one threatens Pharoah without going through Bomba first.

Pharoah became the new addition to our pack in August. Yes, he keeps us on our toes but not as much as I think Kell does at Dawn’s house. Yesterday I caught my husband (nicknamed Shrek for his ogre resemblance) crooning to Pharoah, “You are just the cutest little boooy, aren’t you. You are just the cutest little boy ever.” Yeah, I think Pharoah’s going to be just fine. Even with the permanent shoulder twitch.