Many of you will remember Bella and Little boy, two Cocker Spaniel pups that came into rescue on March 6th. these pups were born with Cerebella Hypoplasia. In a nutshell, they have very little coordination. They do not "improve", but in the words of our vet, they learn how to use what they have. :)

Both puppies have been adopted, to the most amazing and loving of homes! here is an update from Zooey (Bellal)'s mom:
dear my puppy angels,

i'm thrilled to report on my precious sweet lil girl zooey (bella) one week after i have had the blessing of her coming into my life! :))))))))) i'm trying my best to add structure into her daily routine in terms of both scheduling and activity, and we seem to doing okie-doke!

there is a lovely iPhone app (after having tested out a few, this was the simplest for our needs) called Baby Log which easily allows me to track zooey's pees/poos and feeding times, it has been a HUGE help in getting her onto a schedule! zooey is now eating 3s a day (bigger meals for bfast/dinner, smaller for lunch...THANK YOU SO KINDLY SARANIQUE for the oatmeal/ground turkey recipe! and SHAUN the little black rubber ponytail holders are GENIUS for her ears!) and is going poop once a day every morning around 7am! HOORAY! she goes pee about 5 times a day. she is..DANH DAH DAAH for the most part potty trained. i sing her a song called "zooey zooey go potty!" and it takes about 5 min of belly rubbing, but then she goes pee into the toilet. i give her a 100% all natural beef tiny niblet as a reward, and it has conditioned her quite well!!! i'm transitioning her to go 3 of the 5 times in the backyard and it seems to be working! however, i do have to hold her as her back legs especially need support. she does make whinnying sounds which alarms me when she pees, and occasionally goes limp, but as time goes on i think she is okay, unless YOU ALL think otherwise and i should bring her to a vet? when she poos, if it is large, she does cry a bit (*SNIFF* SNIFF*) and seems in lots of pain so i help massage it all out quicker. this is a bit scary to me as i never want her in pain, and i wonder, is there something you all think i can do to help ease her? or does she need to develop her muscles down there more and we just wait?

which brings me to...zooey has shown progress :))) in order to give her a sense of normalcy, i no longer carry her. when she is being held she "swims" (doggy paddles her front muppet paws..mah na mah na!!!) and i hold her close to the ground as if she herself is walking. this way, she can get a sense of our home and movement in general. we even do stairs together a few times a day where i go up slowly and allow her to touch down "1,2" with each front paw and then lift her to the next step. when this girl is ready to walk, she'll be prepared believe you me!! TAH DAAAAH! she is trying to use her front paws to hold her toys, not there yet but SMART girl knows to push them into a corner with her lil puppynosr so she can have more control!!! BRAVA!!!

we bathe every other day, but i let her paddle in a shallow bath more frequently. furthermore, in her playpen (THANK YOU LINDA FOR THIS AMAZING LOAN!!) i have put my styrofoam yoga roller. its soft enough for her to hit up against and she likes having one side of the playpen stiffer so she can try to prop herself up. plus we do exercises where i just lay her on the roller (paws out) so she gets a sense of what standing feels like while leaning on top of the roller. she wobbles side to side, but fingers crossed it should help strengthen her muscles.

at night time zooey has a crate (identical to the one you showed me saranique, except its a cat crate so the lid is metal grate and opens and closes easily and allows me to gently place zooey in and out of the crate) which she LOVES to sleep in. zooey actually prefers the crate to my bed and settles down quickly to fall asleep. i think in some way the enclosure is reassuring. of course i have stuffed blankets and toys everywhere!

Here is a video we made the first week that the pups were with us: