This Little Doggie Phoenix is a Survivor Many Times Over
When my friend Amber first told me about the new Dachshund she was considering getting, I winced a lot and warned her against it.
“He lived on the streets for who knows how long, and he was brought to a kill animal shelter where the clock was ticking until he would be put down because no one wanted him,” Amber explained. “A Dachshund rescue saved him and then he was adopted out to a woman who kicked him and broke his rib, and he was confiscated from her.”
Phoenix was saved by the Dachshund Rescue of Los Angeles took Phoenix in. That’s the group that got him out of the shelter and then he was adopted.
She wasn’t really sure how old he is, what his health conditions were, how he would get along with others.
I could not encourage the adoption, but she ended up getting him.
And then, I fell in love with Phoenix immediately. He is a Doxie who has come back from the ashes many times, and that’s why his name is so appropriate.
When Amber adopted him in 2017, they estimated his age at 6. He seemed wise beyond his years, like a baby Yoda.
But this guy is only 7 inches tall, and he’s a middle child in between a shaggy Doxie-mix named Malcolm and a beautifully fashionable longhair Dachshund named Fern. In her apartment only a few blocks from the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Amber also has three rats and a jumping spider. In the past she has had snakes, birds, lizards, fish, cats, rabbits, frogs, newts, Guinea pigs, etc. Her love of animals goes back a long time.
Phoenix is fine dealing with all the distractions. Amber has a lot of body art including tattoos of a few past Doxies, but she’s not ready to add Phoenix to the collection.
Phoenix is mellow, but he can certainly bark. His deep voice gets him the nickname of “the Barry White of Dogs” and once he barked and a man jogging turned to stare at Phoenix and almost ran into a tree.
Phoenix’s days as a street dog scavenger probably led him to eat the palm seed that put him in the hospital recently. He’s always hungry, always looking for food.
I may have had a treat in my pocket the day before, and Phoenix will still dig into my pocket to find that treat.
Eating that palm seed put him in six days of intensive care. The palm seed wrecked his insides, causing a GI obstruction, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, low body temperature, shock, pancreatitis and then colon torsion surgery, spleen removal due to finding nodules, and on top of that he had bladder surgery to put his bladder in the correct position. A possible refund of being kicked so hard by that lady.
His little sister, Fern, not even 2 years old, was so worried and empathetic when he finally got home form the hospital that she sniffed Phoenix’s surgical bandages and hospital odors and she became sick for four days, throwing up, and requiring an emergency vet visit herself.
Amber Irit Lockspeiser is a Certified Animal Massage Therapist, and she has helped all the four Dachshunds that she has met of mine, working on their back, calming their dispositions, and helping me find the right food for them.
“Unfortunately, it is not a job that earns one a lot of money,” she says. “It is a job more about passion and helping heal people’s furry kids, not about making a lot of money. Driving to people’s homes equals gas bills and travel time, making it difficult for me to have too many clients in one day while still getting home on time to give my other dog his mid-day seizure meds.”
On top of that, a recent T bone car accident has slowed the amount of work that Amber can do and the hours she can work due to a neck and back injury resulting in multiple disc bulges.
Entering Phoenix into the America’s Favorite Pet Contest could win Amber and Phoenix enough money to pay off their bills. The contest is through the PAWS Foundation that helps dogs, cats and wildlife find happy, healthy homes. The remainder of the $10,000 would go to the Dachshund Rescue of Los Angeles where she found Phoenix.
“I am very blessed that Phoenix, my rescue Dachshund, survived this ordeal so far and that he has found himself at a fantastic rescue so I could adopt him,” Amber says.
Amber also has a GoFundMe page for Phoenix’s medical bills where she has scanned all the actual doctor bills, and is still about $1,000 short of her goal at the time of this article. Her pet insurance thankfully covered a good amount but there was a lot leftover. The gofundme was only for the ER but there was also multiple vet visits prior.
She could use the help with both.
“Most of the people who are entering this contest are doing it mostly for what their pets do for them, this is what I can do for him,” says Amber. “He is such a good dog and considering the trauma he has been through he remains sweet and affectionate.”
You can vote in the America’s Favorite Pet for free or make a donation that goes to the wildlife sanctuary.
Amber loves her specific breed of dog because she says, “Dachshunds are unusually loyal, funny, quirky and make me laugh even when they get in the garbage or knock over something next to me. It’s hard to get mad.”
They are notoriously hard to house train, Amber gives it a 50/50 chance, because they are so stubborn and think they are bigger dogs than they really are.
“Once you’ve had a Doxie you always want another one, even if you have other pets,” Amber says.
And as for Phoenix, Amber adds, “He almost died, a few times, and throughout all of this he remains the sweetest, trusting and loving dog and hasn’t allowed anything to bring him down.”
“I am blessed to have him as a pet,” she says. “He brings me so much joy and happiness.”
You can help this little guy, all for free, too! He has been close to the top place, but needs more help.
UPDATE: Dear Phoenix died of a brain tumor on January 26, 2023 in the arms of Amber and Greg. He made it to be one of the last finalists of the contest of America’s Greatest Pet, but to those who knew him, we knew he really was.
Here’s a video about him:
https://www.tiktok.com/@mike_szy/video/7193190809921981739?_r=1&_t=8ZMtcquRbcx
His family still needs help to pay for his medical bills.
GoFundMe
To Contact Amber:
ambervnlok@gmail.com
www.happytails2you.org
www.facebook.com/Happy.Tails.2.You
instagram.com/ambervnlok
~ Helping to heal one tail at a time ~
