Super Stu!

Stewie’s Life With The Allen Clan &

The Discovery Of Osteosarcoma.

Hi, my name is Petra & I’m Stewie’s Mum. Stewie’s Dads name is Paul and he has feline brothers called Spike & Chester and a sister named Miss Lily.

if you didn’t already check out Stewie’s previous blogs “Meet Stewie Prior To His Life With The Allens”, he asked that you do so, ’cause he is very proud of his puppy pictures! (like his sister, Miss Lily, he’s a bit of a primadonna!)

Stewie is now a 7 year old Bernese/Rottweiler/Retriever cross. One of the most loyal, loving and intelligent dogs my husband & I have ever known! (& I’ve known some pretty wicked dogs in my life!) We are full supporters for adoption and if we could house all of the strays in our area, we would. We have however, limited ourselves to 3 cats and a dog to round off our splendid family unit. We don’t have human babies, so we surround ourselves with the unconditional love of the four (& soon to be 3!) legged fur babies.

Stewie had a pretty unstable and undisciplined life, in many different homes, before coming to ours. He was always being sent back to his original Mom, time and time again. We won the jackpot when Stewie became part of our family!

Stewie became a part of the Allen Clan in April of 2015. We decided to adopt Stewie, after knowing him in & around our small town in British Columbia. We had recently lost our beautiful girl Abbey, a great Pyranese, who had passed away due to brain cancer

Even though we had met Stewie a few times (and fell instantly in love with his character) at the General store, in our little town of Nakusp, where one of his Aunties and his original Mom worked, we had heard horror stories about how vicious he was and that he had attacked numerous animals, etc.

We were a little anxious due to the fact that we had two (at that time) cats at home whom we were extremely protective of. But I love dogs and I had been a mobile dog groomer in the past. I felt that we had the right frame of mind and the right attitude to turn Stewie around and give him a dogs’ dream home for the rest of his life.

I figured Stewie and I were going to be heading into 3 months of “good dog” boot camp. But Stewie showed us just how much he wanted to stay in this new piece of paradise in the Kootenay mountains… he was nothing but a gentleman. It didn’t take long for him to stop being fixated on the little creatures that would prowl around him at all hours of the day and in a very short time, became best friends with our 3 year old redhead, named Chester.

Our 18 year old Main Coon, called Spike, was another story! Ha! As much as Stewie wanted to be friends, Spike just told him that “there were certain feline rules that Stewie must follow, but wouldn’t be given those rules until he breaks them!” And when that happens Spike Himself would take care of the situation! Ha! (to this day Stewie will prefer to take the long way around, rather than pass through that gauntlet!)

Miss Lily, our adopted, two year old flame point Siamese arrived in October of 2016, he didn’t even have to be told to make a wide birth around this little Madame!

Stewie is 100%, the most perfect boy in the world! We have no fences around our property and tons of wild life. So the temptation for a dog to want to roam (like our disa-Pyrenees!) and chase after the deer, coyotes and bears, is huge! But Stewie showed us right from the start, that if he was going to do a good job of protecting us, he would definitely need to stay close to home.

When Stewie first arrived, Paul & I could hop in the car and leave Stewie to guard the house while we were gone. But that summer, we went to Calgary to visit family and attend a wedding. We decided not to take Stewie with us, as we weren’t totally sure at this point yet, how he would be with our families children and lots of other dogs.
Up until this point he had shown aggression with other dogs, so we decided that it would be best to leave him with his original Mum (Aunty Sandy) for the few days that we would be gone.

When we picked up our boy on the way home, he did a double take and started running circles around the house! Literally! He did the track 3 times and then came and fell into our laps! He was so wound up happy, he needed to run off all the excessive energy before he could greet us properly!

We were never able to leave him home alone again…! The times that we tried, he chewed the bannister and pulled the curtains down on the front door! So from then on forward, it was ‘Me & You & a Dog Named Stu!’ We didn’t mind most of the time. He is a super sociable dog with humans and loves been the star of the show wherever we go! He especially loves his boat ride and is the Captains Mate on The Toaster!

Many people knew our Stewie, prior to becoming a permanent member of the Allen Clan, but they knew him as the “beautiful but troublesome dog. But he has shown all of them that the dog they knew before, was nothing like this new and improved Stewie. He has made many new and steadfast friends.

The summers are an issue for our heavy coated boy though. We can reach temperatures of 40 degrees C in the summer and it would be lovely if we could leave him in our basement, where it is way cooler. But he is our fur baby, so if we are going to be out for an extended time, his Favorite Person, Anne, spoils him rotten and he doesn’t mind at all! He really loves his road trips though so we don’t mind bringing our boy along.

You never realize what benefit it is to have a fur baby that listens, until you need it the most. When dealing with a sick 110lb dog, it is critical, as you know to have them stay, stand and other simple commands. Even more so now that I need to ask my boy to wait for me to open doors, to stop licking, to get shoes on to go outside (Mum puts shoes on, Stewie doesn’t.), or to simply just stay and rest. He exceeds at this!

My husband Paul has formed a very special bond with our Stewie boy and to see the two of them together, makes me smile when I think of how Stewie has got Daddy wrapped right around his big paws!

Super Stu’s Cancer story began a couple of months ago. (but it was not immediately clear that we had a major problem on our hands.) it was late into the evening & I noticed Stewie obsessively licking his front left leg. I thought it was a bug bite as he has experienced that before and it appeared to me to be the same behaviour.
I rubbed some Benadryl over the area, even though I couldn’t see anything definitive, and cooled it off with a damp towel. He must of tried to get through that towel for 2 hours,  with me gently telling him to stop licking. He finally collapsed into exhausted sleep. He seemed perfectly normal the next day!

Then a couple of weeks ago he started with a limp. We thought it was his shoulder, as he had had issues with that area in the past. But when the limp started getting worse instead of better, we decided to go & see his doctor…

On Wednesday, July 5th 2017, we were given the news that changed our lives with our boy forever! Most of you know that feeling of devastation that we felt, when we were given the horrifying news that we were going to lose our loverboy in 4-6 weeks due to Osteosarcoma, If we didn’t amputate his limb. The reason that we would have to euthanize at that point would be due to the extreme pain that our boy will be in by that time!
My husbands first reaction was an absolute “No” to the amputation, “how could we possibly do that to him?!” We were thinking very humanlike!…

After many hours of tears flowing, internet research and talk, talk, talking… We decided to have an X-ray taken of Stewie’s lungs the next day and see what our chances were for proceeding with the next step? At the very least, we needed to seriously consider the surgery to amputate Stewie’s front leg. It would be the only way to alleviate his immediate pain and at the very least, it could give us 4-6 months with our boy, rather than the all too soon, 4-6 weeks.

So the following day, we took some pictures of Stewie’s lungs and they came out beautifully clear! (for the time being!🤞) So then the next big question to the vet, was to ask if we could schedule Stewie’s surgery for the amputation. The sooner the better in our mind!

We are scheduled for Monday July 10th 2017. We have a ton of support from family and friends and even people we’ve never met, it’s all very humbling! Our focus is on the next two weeks, helping our boy back into the new world of Tripawds and even though we are keeping a stiff upper lip for our boy, we are also terrified! Fear & doubt played hugely on our minds! I can’t explain the horrifying nightmares I have had since we made the decision to amputate!

It has been a tough day anticipating what’s to come over the next few days. But knowing that I have my husbands support, (he has a heart the size of Jupiter,) I realize that with the right attitude we can all get through this with flying colours! As my dear old Uncle Brian used to say, Stewie is a “Right Champion!”

I have been relying heavily on information on this incredible site for Tripawds! (tripawds.com) You have all been incredibly helpful and we so appreciate it! I have already started receiving word of encouragement from some of your members and it is incredibly comforting to know that all of you have “been there, done this”! Your words and information are invaluable!

I will continue to tell Stewie’s story, but it may be in a few days when we all have our proverbial feet back on the ground!

Thanking you 0n behalf of my family, but especially on behalf of our Super Stu Tripawd Hero!

All the very best from The Allen Clan
Petra, Paul, Stewie, Spike, Chester and Miss Lily xxxxxx