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HELP LOKI TO HIS SECOND LIFE OF MISCHIEF
I will tell you all about the namesake of the Norwegian God of Mischief.
Picture credit: Ina @rumpusroom_photography
The Story ENG: Nieuws
And as Loki likes to do things differently to keep everyone on their tippytoes, I too shall do things differently and start with the end. Because for those of you that did not come here looking for a bedtime story and are just begging me 'Tell me what I can do to help Loki get back to mischief ASAP', I shall not keep you in the dark! You can read The Summary and then hop to the paragraph on ‘How can you help?’
THE SUMMARY
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Loki is the happiest little (big) puppy you have ever seen, but also came as an IKEA package missing some parts, pretty much without hip sockets.
Unfortunate as that was, Loki was still happiest running around (zoomies all day every day), greeting people and dogs and almost everything in his path as if they were his bestest friends forever. That led the vets to not make too much of his pain. Four different vets claimed this little happy puppy was just tired. But a mother knows best and thus the quest for answers continued.
After insisting on having pictures taken, in February 2020 the x-rays (€200) showed that in fact Loki was born with near to no hips.
Picture 20/02/2020
The vet warned that with other prelying conditions (allergies among others) it was best to consider all options (meaning considering letting him go). I didn’t feel like I wanted to even consider that and so I asked different opinions to explore what other scenarios were possible.
In the University Hospital of Liege they said that Loki is a lightweight as far as hip displacement goes. With his 23kg he is significantly lighter than most dogs with HD. So they thought he could perfectly live his life without hips. We should just start physiotherapy and hydrotherapy (also known as 'splish splash therapy').
I decided to borrow the money (€1208 for +/- a year) to try that and after months of making great progress Loki's condition started deteriorating in winter 2020.
We tried to compensate with more therapy and pain medication and also a dog behaviourist to help train Loki to become more relaxed, have less adrenaline, less zoomies and hopefully less pain. But what life is life for a dog if he can't be a dog?
Eventually May 19th (two days before his 2nd birthday) there was another set of pictures taken and the surgeon said one of the two hips was permanently displaced and he should get two hip prosthetics.
Those cost €4200 per hip without other costs such rehabilitation, regular consults and medication. We don’t know the full costs yet, but do know that cost of the physio/hydrotherapy will be more or less the same as the previous year.
After having a broken heart for a day I decided I did not have the luxury to sit and be sad as that would not help Loki get back to mischief as usual.
Maybe Loki was a bat in his previous life. Maybe not. Who knows?
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A BIT MORE ABOUT 'THE DOG OF MISCHIEF' HIMSELF
Loki loves the world and everything in it. He's everyone's best friend. Whether it is the postman, the cleaning lady, the old man crossing the street, it does not really matter. Everybody needs to be greeted with butt wiggles and jumpies (we are trying very hard to train him to stay on the floor with all four tippietappies with intermittent success).
Other dogs are playmates and it doesn't matter if they are a chihuahua or a Danish Dog. He has no concept of size and treats everyone alike. Even the local rescue calve from a farm nearby gets greeted. Granted, Loki is not 100% sure of him - as he never is with things or beings he doesn’t understand - but he 12/10 would accept as a playdate. (And any other animal for that matter).
The Story ENG: Nieuws
The meet and greet with the calve didn't get solidified by a picture, but here is a picture of Loki giving a kiss to the local sheep.
Unsurprisingly Loki loves every person that has and has not yet crossed his path. His favourite humans of all the favourite humans he has are probably his mum, his 'Mamsie' (grandma), his dad, John, his grandad, his good boy trainer Trieze, his splish splash therapist Ann and his aunties. Mind you, even the vet gets his loving.
He is very brave and tends to be quite territorial as he clearly has some shepherd genes, he will defend his territory against any threat until his last breath. Unless the threat is a bag. Because bags are very scary. Especially when there is wind. Then bags really aren't to be messed with and the safest space is probably behind mummy, or really anyone.
He is allergic to all animal protein and has come to love love looove veggies. He will steal them or if not possible to steal he will present you with the bestest sit + puppy eyes when you are dealing with veggies. He goes the extra mile for broccoli and beetroot. They really have a special place in his heart.
He does not enjoy water, only to drink, he will try to negotiate with puppy eyes not to have to go in the pool when he has hydrotherapy. But even though the puppy eyes lose every time and he has to go swimming, he still loves the therapist Ann.
Waterhof in Velm has been our biggest support throughout this year and Loki doesn't shy away from showing his grattitude
Loki likes yoga (aka ‘doga) and whenever he sees the mat appear, he does a big stretch and shows me how it’s done. He has been learning to lie quietly with me as I do my morning routines and that has been a loving journey.
The Story ENG: Nieuws
Loki likes to test my poses to see how strong they really are
He loves walkies, but even more than walkies, he loves to run as fast as he can (he has that Malinois build) and jump and I would love a future for him where he can do all of those things without having to suffer days after because it hurts.
Credit: Lies @incidence.of.light.fotografie
This picture was taken last year when he was getting stronger and doing well.
THE BACKGROUND AKA 'WHY HELP LOKI'
Warning: floatiness and fluff and love. And also the naked truth.
Loki was not at all the dog I ever dreamed of having. Loki might have even been the opposite. But he sure as hell was the dog I needed then and need now.
The Story ENG: Nieuws
Picture credit: Ina @rumpusroom_photography
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I grew up a bit of an outcast and always wanted a dog by my side. But my father was allergic to dogs so that wasn't an option. So I just had an imaginary dog by my side. (I'm sure that didn't help with making friends). I pictured an off leash dog that would always be by my side and comfort me when I was sad and sleep in my bed and always be calm, but also enthusiastic and happy.
Fast forward to August 2019. 29 years old and I 'still' didn't have the life that would allow a dog, so I became a dog sitter/walker/all round helper and also enrolled in a course to become a dog trainer.
Beginning of October I was contacted by a couple that had adopted a puppy from an organisation having asked for an easygoing and calm dog as they had a cat and it was their first experience with a dog. They got 'Mookie' (fyi the name was picked by the organisation). Mookie sure was not what they bargained for. He was a handful to say the least. They couldn’t cope, so the organisation set out to look for another family. The couple asked for help until that family was found and so 'Mookie' came to stay for a week to give the couple some quiet.
This picture was taken the first evening little 'Mookie' was with us.
I saw this puppy with the most adorable puppy eyes that would get adopted so easily by literally anyone that put their eye on his face, but that might also end up back in the shelter after a while. I fell in love with him and did not want a life for him where he would bounce in between families and shelters. So we adopted him and named him Loki, because that seemed to fit his mischievous ways much more than Mookie.
Loki has challenged me since the beginning to continue training and learning and overall being better. He got me to the point where I realised I needed better and more appropriate support and after some tests I got the diagnosis of autism.
It explained a lot, but also left me with the question of 'now what?'. 'Will I ever be able to give him what he needs if I am so sensitive to stimuli and susceptible to stress and anxiety?' I embarked on a journey to find a dog trainer who could help me with Loki. Or help Loki with me. Or maybe even help me help me so that I could help Loki.
I was not very trusting and was looking for someone who did not only have experience with challenging dogs, but also with challenging humans. It wasn't easy to find a trainer whose information could reassure me.
But I found someone and that has been an amazing choice. Trieze from Big Mouth Dog Training in the first session already gave me hope that we actually would be able to help each other. We call this profession a ‘dog trainer’ or ‘behaviorist’, but I prefer calling her ‘our relationship therapist’. As she works much more with me and ‘us’ than she works with him. And boy, has she improved our relationship.
He signals my stress often before I even feel it coming up and mirrors me perfectly, which is now sometimes a challenge, but in the longer run could be a positive. After that first session already Loki seemed like a different dog and I felt like a bit of a different human. And as I already mentioned, he loves Trieze.
The Story ENG: Nieuws
As I said, he really loves Trieze, 'eyes shut and enjoying the massage'.
I was happy and excited for the future ahead and then the verdict of the need for two hip prosthetics fell and my world felt like it was close to crumble.
Loki has only just begun teaching me about me and I have only just begun helping him. I am not ready to give him up and want to keep fighting for him.
Picture credit: Ina @rumpusroom_photography
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I have rediscovered the charm in his mischief and he has become even more attached to me. He wants to follow me wherever I go and I would really like that to be possible somewhere in the future. I would really love it if I could celebrate his 3rd birthday with a big pupcake, undivided attention and zoomies that will not make my heart skip a beat because of the pain I know they will cause when he's calmed down.
The Story ENG: Nieuws
ALLOCATION FUNDS
Now we move from the story to the crux of the situation: we need your help.
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All funds will go directly towards the care for Loki.
His first surgery for his right hip is scheduled June 16th, which will be €4200. I will borrow that money short term as his state was deteriorating quickly and I didn’t want him to have to wait any longer to start his second life. There will be around 3 months between the two hip surgeries, so he will need at least six months to recover in total. I really want him and me to be able to move forward and embark on new adventures.
The funds will go to the surgeries themselves, but also his medication and follow-ups and physio and the dog trainer assisting us in making sure Loki has the mental capacity to be able to get through his recovery in a calm and relaxed manner.
The costs have been high so far.
1208 euros for a bit over a year of physiotherapy (bills below).
As the physiotherapy will be more frequent after surgery than it has been the past year, the cost for the coming 6 months is estimated around the same amount.
Appointments for x-rays (have) cost €200.
His (pain) medication and (joint) supplements have been around €300 and are still being given.
Appointments with other vets were also around €500.
The dog trainer is on average €218/month (not every week/month has been equally intensive) and we started working with her in March.
You have noticed that 12.000 (minus the crowdfunding platform costs) will not cover the full amount, but every bit helps and will take a bit of weight off my shoulders.
Below you can see bills of just one of the vets we have seen + physiotherapy. The other vets we are not in contact with anymore, so it wasn’t possible to retrieve those bills.
The Story ENG: Nieuws
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
For one having read our story so far I already want to say thank you.
1. Donate!
If you can only spare the amount of a coffee, that’s brilliant, that’s perfect. If you can spare (a whole lot) more, that would be amazing as well.
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2. The GiveAway
A GiveAway will be launched on Instagram @helplokibackonhisfeet in which you can participate and get nice prizes!
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If you are an entrepreneur and you would like to contribute a product or service to the GiveAway, I might love you already. Drop me an email or DM via Instagram and we'll talk!
3. Share the story (on social media)
If you can’t spare anything, I totally understand and just want to ask you to please maybe share this online. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, whatever your medium. Even if you don’t know anyone who might donate, they might know someone who can and would.
It’s the ripple effect.
Whatever you can do, we will be forever grateful. Loki will surely greet you with wigglebutt tail wags and probably also big sniffs and maybe even a lick or two. (I shall try and refrain from all those things, but will also be forever grateful).
You will receive regular pupdates and if any of you ever visit Belgium I would love to try and arrange a meet and greet to have Loki meet one of his heroes.
Picture credit: Ina @rumpusroom_photography
The Story ENG: Nieuws
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