10/29/09
Georgie has been living with a trainer to try to correct some of his odd and unpredictable mood changes. When the trainer asked to adopt him, we said, yes! He's understood in his new home, and his family loves him, warts and all!

Georgie is a newcomer to FBRN, and he is happy to be here. In fact, Georgie is happy darn near all of the time. He is a handsome, 5 year-old Frenchie man who comes to us with a variety of issues. He was surrendered to FBRN because he did not take well to the new children in his life after his dad got married. It’s likely just some jealousy after having his person all to himself all of his life, but we’ll do our best to make sure that’s all that was going on.

Georgie has pretty horrendous allergies. He has lumpy, bumpy, oozy, yucky skin that makes him very uncomfortable and want to scratch and scritch all day long. When he came to FBRN, he was covered in pustules, many of which were bleeding and angry. His poor paws had swollen, bloody sores between the toes. He was a complete mess. He has already started to improve some (no more bleeding or oozing), but it’s likely to be a long road to recovery. His foster parents are working hard to diagnose his allergies and get the secondary infection all taken care of so this sweet boy can be a little happier in his own skin. He’s also got some yeasty, aching ears that he is very sensitive about. Georgie has shown a bit of reactivity about his ears, but that just makes sense, given how much they must be bothering him. His foster parents are working with ear wash and ointment to try to get Georgie to a place where his ears can be really examined and cleaned without him freaking out. The only other health issue going on with monkey man is that he had roundworms. He doesn’t seem to have been on HW preventative for a while, and thankfully, he is negative for HW, but he did have a few squirmies in there. With an already depressed immune system from the skin infection, he's in kinda rough shape, poor beast.

Last but not least, Georgie appears to be either deaf or very hearing impaired. The first indication was that he didn’t respond to his name. At all. Ever. Then, he walked into a home with six dogs barking and didn’t show the slightest indication that he heard them. No reaction to spoon clanging on pan, no reaction to snapping, clapping, kissy noises, and on, and on, and on. After talking with his original owner, it turns out that he did have suspicions about Georgie’s hearing over the past year or so. What this likely means is that ear infections or blockage or some other such yuckiness in his baby ears may have caused his hearing impairment. We have great hopes that he’ll be able to recover at least a little hearing, but there’s no guarantee of that.

Georgie was also reported to have crate aggression and had previously put teeth to fingers on one occasion when fingers made their way into his crate. In his foster home, after an initial show of Tasmanian Devilishness, there has been zero reactivity around his crate. He goes in happily for a treat and comes out with no fanfare. He’ll be introduced to others while he’s in his crate to try to insure that none of the snarky guarding behaviors return. He has some additional behavioral issues that will be worked on while he’s in foster care, but it’s quite likely that they have a lot to do with him being unable to hear. He’s already making good progress, and he’s picked up some hand signals VERY quickly. He’ll already sit on command. He’s almost got the “down.” And he even waves when given the cue. It’s too, too cute!

All in all, Georgie’s a great guy who just needs a little work and a lot of medical attention. He needs our help. He needs YOUR help. Please, if you can, make a donation to help with Georgie’s care. Skin issues like his can take a long time and be very costly to resolve, and we need him feeling tip-top ASAP. Anything you can give might help his little ears have a little less pain, his poor skin get a little less itchy, and the real Georgie, the sweet cuddly, lovable, smiling, gentle Georgie, to come out even more. This one’s a diamond in the rough, folks! Help us get him all sparkly and shiny!