Update on Nino,the 2 legged dog from Mexico

We wanted to update everyone on Nino, who came to Home for Life earlier this year from Mexico. As a 3 week old puppy, Nino's littermates were slaughtered, and he was mutilated by a gang of boys wielding machetes. They cut Nino's back legs off with the machetes but Nino's mother, a street dog who lived in a village outside of Cancun, managed to grab him in her mouth and run away with him to safety before her last surviving puppy also perished.

The owner of a taco stand and his wife regularily fed Nino's mother, and it was to them that she brought her puppy after he had been injured. They stopped the bleeding on his stumps and brought him to Rescate Malix, a shelter located near Cancun. Some of their volunteers contacted Home for Life via email to ask for help on Nino's behalf. Nino means little boy in spanish. More on Nino's early life was covered in a prior blog post: http://homeforlifesanctuary.blogspot.com/2010/05/home-for-life-sanctuarys-brush-with.html

Now about six months old, Nino has grown to be a handsome and happy boy who is as full of energy as any young dog. He most resembles a miniture australian shepard in size and appearence except for his coloring which is white with the brindle markings- the coloration of wild dogs. In fact Nino has a great affinity and interest in the many coyotes that reside and roam near us and is very curious to check out any smells when he is let outside in the morning. Street dogs are often a melange of many breeds so perhaps it is possible that his heritage includes some coyote blood. Nino lost his legs so early in life that he seems to have no memory of the trauma of the abuse he suffered. He is always happy and smiling. Like all the disabled animals at Home for Life, he has adapted and makes the best of his situation even though he has only two legs. He can move around with astonishing speed by balancing his weight over his front legs. He is currently going thru the adolescent puppy stage known at Home for Life as the "landshark phase". Everything and everyone is a chew toy, and Nino gleefully wrestles with the large cats, and some of the smaller dogs,who avoid him at all costs. Nino doesn't take offense at being avoided and is good natured about chasing them with a big smile on his face. He needs to be with other dogs about his size who can teach him to play with proper boundaries ie don't apply pressure if you want to "playbite". When he is around some of the other sanctuary dogs his age or older,he is like the suddenly shy kid at kindergarten who is a tansmanian devil at home.Like all adolescent dogs he is pushing his boundaries right now but is not mean spirited or aggressive,just typical of the boisterous puppy.

Notwithstanding his disability, his mind works fine, and he is still learning about boundaries.He cannot be obedience trained in the conventional way,but he has learned the concept of housebreaking, the recall, stay and leave it. His very favorite food is dried chicken tender chews which he looks forward to as a beditme snack each evening. Although he is shy with strangers, he has made some public forays to meet new friends such as the students at Totem Town who are pariticpating in the Renaissance Program this fall. '

Because of his youth and agility we really wanted to see if he could be fitted with prosthetics to enable him to move like a normal dog. The first hurdle to overcome was to get the pressure sores on his stumps to heal. While with the rescue in Mexico, he was fitted with homemade prosthetics but they caused pressure sores on the very end of his leg bones. These wounds have taken a long time to heal, and on one of his legs, the very end of the leg bone had to be amputated and the skin sewn over it to finally take care of the open sore and swelling the thigh. Determining if Nino could be be fit with prosthetics was a detailed process involving sending the xrays and measurements of his back legs( which were cut off unevenly and at about where the thigh meets the shin bone) to the company which would custom make the devices. Sadly, after a review of the xrays and second opinion obtained, it was determined that Nino's legs were cut off too high to allow for the prosthetics to be fitted;there was not enough leg bone for the stump cup. Prosthetics even for people, can be very difficult to manage unless they are fitted precisley- human patients often challenged by sore stumps and pressure wounds -they are an imperfect solution in reality. Although Nino is so agile and gets along well on his two legs, the concern is that eventually he will cause stress to his upper leg joints and shoulders over time. So it seems Nino will be destined to use a cart. We are glad he has had the warm summer and beautiful fall to grow to full size and learn to manage his disability and grow up to his full height and weight. His athletic ability and the strength he has developed on his front quarters will enable him to master using a cart very easily . The cart will help him continue to enjoy the outdoors as the weather turns colder,without subjecting his fragile back legs to frostbite or discomfort. He will have the opportunity to enjoy the snow like all dogs do without risking injury.

Once he is used to his cart, we think Nino will make an excellent candidate for our Renaissance Program where he can work with a student from Totem Town to learn obedience within his physical limits and train to become certified as a therapy dog. Nino,with his 'can-do" attitude and sunny outlook, will be a real source of inspiration to human patients challenged with the loss of a limb or other disability.
Nino's photo was taken by Mark Luinenburg at Home for Life in late September. If the blogger does not allow you to see the video of Mark meeting Nino for the photo session please see this You Tube link for the same video: www.youtube.com/homeforlifesanctuary#p/a/u/0/-r3s1bFMTmM

Brush with Fame- Nino the puppy meets Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale

Nino, the little shepard mix puppy from Cancun Mexico, arrived Home for Life on Wednesday this week. He was very tired and spent most of the rainy afternoon sleeping. The weather was so rainy all week that it made everyone sleepy. He is a pretty gold color with black markings creating a brindle effect. His coat is still that soft fuzzy texture that puppies have, and he has the needle- sharp puppy teeth. I was worried initially because he seemed so subdued ..but considering all that he has been thru in his young life it is not surprising it took him a few days to regroup and get his normal puppy energy back. I had a chance to have lunch with Angie who runs the Cancun Mexico rescue Rescate Malix,where Nino was taken after he was rescued. She cared for him for months after he was rescued and is quite bonded to him. I was glad to have the chance to talk more with Angie to learn more about what had happened to Nino and also to hear more about her rescue efforts in Mexico. Rescate Malix means rescued strays in spanish. Angie and all the people who assist with her efforts such as Maia of Pet Project Rescue of Minnesota are doing so much to help these street dogs who suffer greatly from ignorance,disease,neglect and outright cruelty. Angie believes that education is the key to transforming the attitudes of the people which result in so much suffering among Cancun's dogs. She coordinates spay/neuter clinics, rescues and finds homes for many dogs through organizations in the US like Minnesota's Pet Project Rescue and cares for many dogs at her shelter in Cancun.
Angie gave me more details about how Nino was injured and how he came to her at Rescue Malix. Apparently, Nino's mother, a small stray ,street dog, hung around a taco stand with her pack of three dogs.The taco stand was in a small village outside of Cancun,near protected forests or jungles( like our state forests). The husband and wife who ran the taco stand noticed Nino's mother was pregnant and fed her more to try to help her. At some point,according to the couple, she had her puppies in the protected jungle near the taco stand but would continue to visit the stand to be fed. She had had 5 or 6 puppies they told Angie. When the puppies were about 4 weeks old, one afternoon, the taco stand couple heard cries and screaming, yelling, then barking coming from the direction of the forest where the the mother dog had lived with her puppies. They were puzzled but the cries were so distressing,that the husband went to investigate. As he approached the protected jungle area, he saw teenage boys carrying MACHETES laughing and running from the area. The man entered the forest where he knew the mother dog had been with her puppies. What he found horrified him: blood everywhere. But the mother dog and the puppies were gone. He was very upset and went back to his stand to tell his wife about what he found. A short time later, that same afternoon, the mother dog emerged from the forest where she had been hiding and approached her friends from the taco stand who had always fed her and helped her. She was carrying her only surviving puppy in her mouth;she approached the man and dropped the puppy, who was Nino, at his feet, and then ran off. The man and his wife examined the puppy and saw that the hind legs had been cut off half way up the leg. The stumps were bleeding. They were in an area that was really very remote,with nothing like a veterinary hospital near. The wife grabbed some onions they had at their stand, cut them in half and put them on the puppy's stumps to stop the bleeding. Apparently onions are a natural disinfectant and anti-coagulant.
Through the grapevine,the taco stand couple had heard of Angie and somehow from their village got word to her and brought her the puppy for care. Shortly thereafter, through volunteers with Candi International.org, an organziation of professionals in the travel industry who help in third world countries, Nino's case was brought to our attention, and we agreed to help him. Nino is the name given to him by Angie and it means 'little boy". Nino's mother is still living on the streets of the village,near the taco stand. Angie and her volunteers hope to be able to provide vet services and spaying for her at some point. It is hard to think of the mental trauma and heartbreak Nino's mother went thru trying in vain to protect her puppies and having to watch them be slaughtered and her desperation as she tried her best to save her last living puppy by bringing him to the taco stand couple.
Candi International made arrangements for Angie to accompany Nino to the United States and to Home for Life. Angie spent time in Los Angeles raising awareness for Rescate Malix with Nino serving as the ambassador and representative for all the dogs of Cancun and while there she and Nino met musicians Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale who were very touched by his story and were delighted to pose for this photo with him.
Despite the cruelty Nino suffered,everyone who has had a part in his journey are determined that good will come out of this evil. The first goal is to make sure that Nino has a great life and either with prosthetics or a cart,has the ability to walk and run like a normal dog. He is only four months old so we will have to wait for him to reach his full size before he is fitted for the cart o prosthetics so his bones are strong and fully developed. We will also consult with veterinarians experienced in rehabilitation to be sure we are doing all we can to facilitate his ability to live as much as possible as a normal dog. It will be challenging to give him the ability to be mobile but not cause trauma to his stumps which will be prone to the development of sores. Nino loves people and other dogs so a full life for him will include ample opportunities to play and socialize with other dogs as well as the chance to have training to become a therapy dog with the goal of participating in our outreach programs. Another positive to emerge from this tragedy is the way Nino's situation has united the goodwill of people from all over the world, from different rescues, different countries,individuals from humble backgrounds and those who are high profile and famous. It is truly miraculous that Nino,who started life as one puppy of a litter born to an anonymous street dog from a village in Mexico, is now held close to the hearts of so many people,and through the tragedy that befell him, will now be able to bring awareness to the plight of the stray dogs and the heroic efforts of Rescate Malix to help the street dogs of Cancun.