THE STORY OF NOAH (written Nov. 2000)

Tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of our acquaintance with Noah. It has been a long year with many ups and downs, but a time that I would like to share with you. For you see, Noah is the ultimate Rescue Mastiff. He personifies all that is good, bad and frustrating about breed rescue.

Noah came from a shelter in Hesperia in Southern California. He had been picked up as a stray with two female dogs, a Mastiff and a Lab. We transferred him to a foster home in Paso Robles where I could keep an eye on his long road back to health. Nothing that I had been told by the volunteers that had seen him prepared me for what I would find when I first met him on Halloween evening. As you can see by his first pictures, Noah was nothing more than a walking skeleton. The palm of my hand was larger across than his shoulders, ribs or hips. The fact that he was extremely tall and long bodied, made him look all the thinner. It hurt to see him struggle to get up to greet us.

One thing that was obvious from the start was Noah's incredible sweet temperament. He showed no fear of strangers or situations-only curiosity. He attached himself to each person he met earning himself the nickname of "velcro boy." His foster family loved him, but found a Mastiff just too much dog to care for so the day he was neutered, November 30, 1999, Noah came to stay with us.

Noah has been a challenge from the beginning. Everyone that saw him on the Internet wanted to adopt him. The offers came from all over the United States (including Alaska) and Canada. The one thing that made me hold back on placing him was his physical condition. As Noah gained weight and strength I expected him to be less clumsy and uncoordinated.

I was wrong. If anything, he seemed to be getting worse. Having already lost a young puppy that we had fostered to neurological disease, I feared the worse. I took him back to my vet to be reevaluated for possible causes of his lack of coordination. The diagnosis on exam was that Noah probably had a neurological malfunction of long standing duration. More than likely, Noah had some form of Wobblers Disease.

Rather than running a lot of tests which have shown nothing in the past, we decided to try him on a course of Prednisone. The improvement was dramatic. The downside was we could not wean him off the Prednisone without a return of his symptoms. During this trial of medication I had one family that was serious about adopting him. They had several cats, a female Mastiff and a female Pomeranian. I wasn't worried about the Mastiff or cats, but needed to find a small dog to try Noah with. Our local feed store had a Jack Russell that fit the bill. Noah laid down while the JRT crawled all over him. His entire body was no bigger than Noah's head. I had been keeping the family posted about Noah's progress and goofy gait right along. I made a video to send to them before they came to see the dog. Regretfully, they decided not to adopt Noah for fear he would not live a full life.

Months passed while we tried various means of weaning him off the Prednisone while looking for a permanent home for Noah. He became the resident Rescue watching Honeybear, Kaley, Bentley and Fergie all come and go in our home. He gave Honeybear the respect she demanded, was totally bemused by the young Kaley's wild running around the yard, put up with Bentley imprinting on him and seemed to thoroughly enjoy Fergie's company. He also ignored the occasional barking he got from one of our five Mastiffs.

In April a friend called me frantic trying to find a means of helping her 10- year-old Mastiff that was suffering from spinal arthritis. She had her on Prednisone and the drug seemed to be taking a toll on her. The dosage was the same as what I was giving Noah. It made me realize that I was killing this boy with kindness and I needed to find another way to help him. So I turned to a holistic vet that had been recommended to us. He decided on the remedy Phosphorus for Noah so we started on an elaborate schedule of weaning Noah off Pred with the use of Phosphorus.

We were gone for 10 days during May and had to kennel Noah along with some of our other dogs. I left his schedule of meds along with Prednisone, just in case he had a turn for the worse while we were gone. I expected to see him back on Prednisone when we returned. Surprisingly enough he wasn't. In fact, he looked much stronger than before. We have tried various remedies and potencies over the last 6 months, some of which give us hope, while others seem to have little effect. The good news is that we haven't needed to return to the use of steroids to keep Noah comfortable and mobile.

I'm not sure when we decided to keep Noah. We had a few couples come to see him. They all loved his wonderful temperament, but were afraid of his physical condition. Though Noah has continued to slowly gain weight, he will always be kind of goofy looking. He is like a gangly teenager that doesn't quite know how to coordinate his limbs. One weekend towards the end of May our daughter, son-in-law and their two young children were visiting us. I had spent some time showing my two-year-old grandson Fergie and Noah. Matthew was captivated by Noah and apparently didn't view him as the big dog that he is. Noah, unfortunately, was having a bad day physically showing signs of an "aggravation" from a remedy given him a few days earlier. He couldn't seem to get up and would cry in pain and frustration as I helped him to stand. In spite of his own discomfort, he insisted on being with Matthew and would drag himself up to follow Matthew around the yard. He had assigned himself the job of protecting him.

As Noah's foster mom, I had the unique opportunity to see his wonderful temperament and personality. It pained me to see this wonderful dog rejected because of his body. I decided that Noah would always have a home with us. We had learned through experience that his good days were much more numerous than the bad. Shortly after adopting Noah I took him for a CERF exam to confirm my suspicions of PRA. Unfortunately, I was right. The good news is that he doesn't have any cataracts yet so his vision is intact during the day, and not too bad at night. The veterinary ophthalmologist put his age closer to six years.

We have tried a number of things to help Noah lead a comfortable life. I took him for some swim therapy at a rehabilitation center in San Jose towards the end of June. The platform they used to get big dogs into the pool slipped off the tract under his weight sending Noah into the pool on top of the therapist. Fortunately, no harm was done to either. Noah clearly didn't have much use of his rear legs in the pool but managed to keep his nose above water anyway. He kind of looked like an alligator with his quiet front leg paddling.

We have discovered how much Noah likes the heat, certainly not typical for a Mastiff. Summers here have many 100+ degree days. Once adopted, Noah refused to come in during the day but instead would lay in the front yard watching his house. During the winter, he prefers to warmth of the house. We need to keep him on carpet areas as he cannot get up on a slippery floor.

For the 6 months that Noah was in foster care with us we kept him separate from our own five dogs. He always had the company of another Rescue, so he wouldn't be lonely. Once adopted, we faced the challenge of working him into our pack. Things went very smoothly and Noah now is part of the clan. It took him a while to figure out why my guys chase along the fence barking at people walking along the street, but he now joins in the chase in his own awkward, galloping way. He has taken on the task of keeping the other dogs in line when we have guests over. We had Sarah, an Akita, with us for a month and he would get after the other dogs if they barked at her. He can be stubborn when he wants his way and has developed selective hearing just like the rest of the crew. He may never lead a normal life physically, but he has the true spirit and heart of a Mastiff. I think dogs, like people, have a reason for being. Noah's gentle nature has more than once turned someone afraid of dogs into a dog lover. Maybe that is his mission in life. Like our other Rescue, Thor, we have no regrets about adopting Noah, problems and all. He is truly a wonderful companion.