Susie was in very poor condition when she was rescued and it took a while to get her chesty cough under control. She was diagnosed with a crushed trachea, an injury that can affect small and particularly toy breed dogs. It can manifest at any age and unfortunately cannot be cured, only managed.
Susie would like to ask everyone to please consider switching from a collar to a chest harness when walking your dog. A collar can be dangerous when walking. Any dog who pulls or jerks is at immediate risk of neck injury or windpipe damage as their neck takes the pressure.
A crushed trachea can manifest at any age. Unfortunately any number of things can affect Susie’s breathing-exertion, excitement, stress, dust or smoke. She is prone to respiratory infections and must take medication on a daily basis to keep her well.
Luckily Susie doesn’t let it get her down and is determined to enjoy life regardless but she would like to highlight the issue and let you all know that luckily this condition can be prevented by looking at ways we can all ensure that our dogs never have undue pressure applied to their necks.
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So what does a foster girl get up too whilst mummy is updating the Mayo SPCA website, well she keeps her company of course! Susie is making sure all the lovely rescues that we have at the sanctuary get the best possible pictures posted by vetting them all first. She also helps with typing up their references so there new families know all about them. This sometimes tires her out so she takes regular eyelid inspection breaks in between. Thanks Susie and Lucie for working so hard x (2017)
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Update on Suzie formally known as Lucie- How lucky we are to have such a wonderful volunteer’s who foster for us. This was a failed foster……..Thank you Lucie x
Susie has been with us for nearly nine weeks now. When she first arrived, she looked tiny. It wasn’t just that she’s a small dog. She looked like she wanted to make herself smaller. She was hunched up, breathing harshly and had a sad little face. Around the house she moved quickly, keeping out of everyone’s way. She had obviously known some very hungry times as she gulped her meat but seemed unsure about anything else. She didn’t know what to do with toys. It was very clear that she was terrified of men and when out in the garden she hesitated to come back inside especially if any of us were nearby. It was as if she expected to be punished for entering the house.
Sadly dogs like Susie who have been through trauma are the dogs that can be the hardest to rehome. They are also the dogs most in need of a permanent home. They don’t “show” well. When potential new owners come, they are too anxious to approach and make friends. Sadly, new owners might not realise how much time a traumatised dog needs to settle into a new home and might return them to the shelter feeling that they are not working out. Traumatised dogs need a good month or two simply to realise that they are not going to be hurt or abandoned by their new people. They might exhibit behaviours like wetting, being sick, hiding or not coming when called. But given time these dogs can and will settle into the house and become the most loyal and loving friends as they learn to trust and to feel safe.
Susie has a crushed trachea. She takes medication daily for this, a steroid and cough medicine. These help to keep her breathing as clear as possible and stop her coughing too much. At first her breathing issues seemed quite severe but we were happy to see that, as she grew more comfortable and her anxiety started to decrease, her breathing became easier and the coughing much less frequent.
It’s only in recent weeks that we have seen her personality emerge. She had been more comfortable with me but gradually her fear of men subsided and she started to wag her tail when my dad or brother came into the house or room and progressed to wanting to sit on their knees. The newest and nicest development has been her sudden interest in toys and playing. She began to copy my dog as she played with her toys and now quite often heads upstairs to find something to play with. This can be anything, ranging from coat hangers to pens to cushion covers. She and Maisie have very funny “tug of war” games with toys despite the difference in size!
At the moment we are working on walks and exercise. She’s an independent soul and likes to head off if gates are left open although when pursued she allows herself to be captured quite happily! Her enthusiasm for food has led to rapid weight gain so we’re looking for a nice balance in what she eats and activity she is able for. She is getting used to going for little walks on her harness and lead and likes to visit between my dad’s house and mine.
Other dogs have been a huge help to Susie. My father’s dog Molly has shared her favourite chair and been a comfort and companion to her whereas Maisie has taught her to run around and play. All of the traumatised dogs we are seen over the years have always benefitted so much from being around happy dogs and having new friends to copy and learn the ropes from.
We are all enjoying Susie and getting so much joy from seeing her character develop and her confidence grow each day. I would urge anyone rescuing a dog not to be afraid to take on the challenge of a dog who has been through very hard times. It takes time to heal their spirits but it is so rewarding to see all that they are capable of and their willingness to keep trusting despite a difficult past.
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Time patience and a happy ever after.
Msg from Lucie….
Just wanted to share a lovely story about Susie-from day one she was v scared of men and my dad at first found it very hard to get her to come near him or pick her up. It’s taken time but lately she gets so excited when he comes in to a room and he was away at the weekend and she made such a fuss of him when he came home, it just made us feel so good at how far she’s come. She sits on his knee and insists he keep patting her 
(2017)
(2017)…
It’s almost exactly a year since Susie, a little foster dog came to me (Lucie). She was frail, thin and terrified. Her little cage was the only place she seemed to feel safe. I always think she is a perfect example of why rescued dogs can need time and patience when they are first brought home. It was hard to believe a year ago that she would ever be able to get past the horrible things that had happened to her-its fairly obvious she was used for breeding and hadn’t seen much kindness or care. However as time went on she began to settle and trust-fast forward to today, she is so happy in her home with Noel and Molly. She loves toys, attention, sitting on knees and general getting into mischief. Despite some health difficulties she enjoys every minute of her life and we are so so glad she found her way to us (2018).
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Susie (formerly Lucie), Jack Russell cross, was adopted over a year ago by Noel. She was so traumatised when rescued that it was thought she would not tolerate a house with men as she was terrified of them but a year on she is thoroughly loved and spoilt by Noel and Stephen and among her favourite pastimes are sitting on knees and sharing a bed with her friend Lily. She is a funny and very entertaining little character (2018)
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Another update of one of our rescues. Susie (formerly Lucie) was fostered 3 years ago by Lucie (hence the name change!) and then her father Noel. Susie was a sad, frightened little dog with some health difficulties, terrified of bring too close to anyones’ feet. Gradually she started to settle, then to trust and by the time she was a ‘failed foster’ and decided to stay with Noel, she had turned into a fun loving girl. Today she loves cuddles, playing and meeting people. She is an assertive little dog and living proof that rescue dogs often just need time and kindness to find their way in their new lives
(2020)
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Bruno (adopted in 2020) and Susie (adopted in 2017) living their best lives (2022)
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Bruno, adopted 2021, and Susie, adopted 2017, doing their best expectant faces when there’s food around 
(2023)
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Susie, adopted by Noel in 2017
In 2017 I agreed to foster a little dog. Susie (formerly Lucie) had been found in a terrible state. She was injured, ill, had a badly crushed trachea, had been bred from and clearly never been shown a moment’s kindness. She was scared of everything and everyone.
The first day in my house I found it hard to make sense of her. She clearly felt too unsafe to relax and scurried around the house, coughing and gasping as her anxiety made her breathing worse. The only place she seemed to feel safe was in a little crate. Susie was terrified of men, and we thought she would never be able to live in a house with anyone other than a woman.
That first evening, I was visiting my father and didn’t want to leave her alone. I brought her to his house in her little crate intending to leave her in a quiet room where she might relax. But to my surprise she seemed to relax with her crate in the sitting room with us. She watched us cautiously but quietly and when I got up to go, my father uttered the fateful words:
“Why don’t you leave her here for the night as she’s settled?”
Susie never lived anywhere else.
She spent her first weeks very gradually starting to relax. Her breathing started to improve and far from being afraid of my father and brother, she looked for cuddles and attention. There were hints of her trauma in the way she wouldn’t come into the house if any of us were standing in the doorway. She watched our feet when in close proximity and for a long time, was happiest in her crate. But these things all changed slowly. Suddenly a cheeky side to her started to emerge. She began to in initiate play with the other dogs and pick up little toys. One day she ripped up that day’s newspaper and seemed very proud of herself! Her favourite toys were the little rope ones and quite often she would take a notion and run around with them, as if to show us what she could do.
We had assumed she would remain wary of people that she didn’t know but she became very sociable and even loved being taken to the dog shows. She adored visitors to the house and really loved children. She remained devoted to my father and spent her days on and off his knee and following him around. She had little games with him, refusing to let him pick her up and then running around barking for him to chase her, and she never forgot the times that her medication (wrapped in ham) was due.
In the last two years sadly her health problems began to catch up with her. Susie’s breathing again got worse, and it was clear that her heart and lungs were under pressure. Treatment options were limited because of the dangers of sedating her. From time to time, she would have attacks similar to asthma attacks and would need to receive oxygen at the vets. But her spirits remained high. She would bounce back and keep going.
It got to a point that we could no longer take her on outings as excitement and anxiety increased the likelihood of breathing problems. Any other dog would have hated this, but Susie had always been a homebird and just relaxed into home life even more. She loved my little dog Lily who visited her everyday and the other dogs in her house, Molly and then Bruno and Rosie. She, Lily and Rosie had a very tight bond and would have cuddles every morning.
Bit by bit her physical abilities decreased but she compensated in her own determined way. When she could no longer jump on to a knee, she would sit at the person’s feet and stare pointedly at anyone else in the room to come and lift her! Over the last year, we prepared to say goodbye to her a few times including one memorable morning when I got an early morning call to come urgently. When I reached the house, apparently she heard the car from her “deathbed”, jumped up and got into position to bark at me as I entered the house! Another morning she was very low, and we arranged for the vet to come and put her to sleep. When he arrived, she had perked up and was sitting in her bed eating ham.
It was very hard to decide about Susie because her form remained so upbeat and positive. In the end we accepted that she would let us know when she had had enough and we focused on keeping her comfortable with medication, inhalers and the odd vet visit for oxygen. It actually became hard to imagine that she ever would leave us.
But in the last week there were signs that she was starting to tire. The oxygen no longer helped as much as it had and her energy was becoming low. We decided that it was time to make a decision and let her go to rest. I took her to the vet for one last oxygen yesterday to give her a good weekend. In the vets she leaned against me as I chatted to her and afterwards, she was bright and comfortable. At home she came into the kitchen and looked for treats for the first time in days.
That evening she died quickly and quietly with her human and doggie friends all around her. It was the way she deserved to go and we are so thankful for the 6 lovely years we had to thoroughly enjoy her quirky nature and funny little ways. She will be very much missed and so fondly remembered.
Lucie (Noel’s daughter) (2023)
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In memory of Susie, I am making up two hampers of dog treats/toys, one as a raffle prize for the Mayo Society For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals MSPCA LTD craft fair on December 3rd and one for the shelter dogs for Christmas. If anyone had any toys to donate to the latter they would so appreciated. Susie loved fun, toys and dogs so it seems apt
(2023)
(2023)…
