Pup of the Month Club – Spinelli Dahl

The first recipient of the Pup of the Month Club is Spinelli Dahl. We are so happy and excited this project is finally coming to fruition. Pup of the Month Club is a partnership between Tailwagger Dog Photography and the Humane Society of West Michigan. It is a celebration of dogs, dog adoptions and the human/animal bond adoption creates when a homeless dog is welcomed into a home as a family member and given a second chance at life.

We met Spinelli and his owner, Ashley, at the Millennium Park in Walker, MI. Spinelli is a 5 ½ year old Shar Pei, Boxer, Lab, Beagle mix. He has quite the personality – at times he seemed very serious and no-nonsense, surveying the area around him with a keen eye. But then he would completely ruin that façade by grabbing his giant stuffed puppy and take off doing a bucking, jumping gait that almost gave the impression he was trying to dislodge an imaginary rider from his back. Like I said – Spinelli has quite the personality.  

 Spinelli had a bit of a rough start in life. He was found with 8 littermates in a box at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids on Thanksgiving morning 6 years ago. 7 of the 9 puppies survived thanks to a jogger who found the box that morning and contacted the Humane Society of West Michigan. The puppies were only a few hours old. Spinelli and his littermates were bottle fed until they were old enough to be weaned – a huge task as the puppies needed to be fed every 2-3 hours for the first few weeks, as well as kept warm because puppies of that age are unable to regulate their own body temperature.

The puppies were split up between two teams of HSWM sisters. The five that included Spinelli went to Ashley and Lindsey Dahl. They coordinated their schedules so that the puppies were always fed and warm. They kept the pups warm with electric heaters and rice filled socks that were microwaved warm so the pups could snuggle up to them. The sisters had to be extremely careful about exposing the puppies to microorganisms, as the puppies were not receiving the antibodies that they normally would have, if they were being nourished with their mother’s milk.

After the puppies were three weeks old, the feeding schedule lightened up just slightly to every four hours, but the pups still needed to be kept warm and away from chilly drafts, especially during the winter cold.

Unfortunately, when Spinelli was a few weeks old he hit a rough patch. He stopped eating. He was plagued with a horrible infection of worms.  Spinelli’s caregivers were quite distraught to say the least, after everything that had put into his and his siblings’ care the first few weeks. At such a young age, life is so fragile. Both Ashley and Lindsey were afraid Spinelli would have to be euthanized. The HS Vet knew how much effort, love and care Ashley and Lindsey put into the puppies’ survival and as a last ditch effort to save him, started tube feeding, along with administering a dewormer. It was just the thing to jumpstart little Spinelli’s system and helped him make the turn he needed to make.

Ashley, who is a HSWM staff member, said it was easily the most physically and emotionally exhausting time of her life. Loosing one of the five puppies during week 1, without a doubt, exacerbated the emotional roller coaster.

Eventually when it came time for the puppies to be adopted out, Ashley decided to keep Spinelli. He started taking puppy classes at the age of 10 weeks old and continued up through basic and more advanced obedience classes and eventually passed his Good Canine Citizen test around 6 months of age. Spinelli hasn’t looked back since and is involved in educating the community through demonstrations (with Ashley) in classrooms, clubs and companies on how to safely approach and be respectful of dogs and other animals. He is also involved in the occasional tour of the Humane Society and is ‘camp dog’ for the Humane Society’s summer camp programs – he even has his own business cards. As Ashley so aptly puts it, “The HSWM saved his life and now he helps the HSWM by teaching kids about being safe and respectful of dogs, as well as being kind to all life.”

What struck us most about Spinelli’s story is simply how he survived to become Spinelli. The devotion and around the clock care that was put into his and his siblings survival is to be commended. People literally tuned their lives upside down for weeks on end to give Spinelli his best shot at survival. For a lot of volunteers and staff of the HSWM, as well as other rescues and shelters – it’s not a job…it is a devoted passion.

Ashley has fostered over 100 animals at her home over the past 16 years that she has worked and volunteered for the HSWM. Spinelli is the only animal she has ever adopted. Why Spinelli – why not any of the many others? I wasn’t surprised at all from the answer –  there was a ‘click’ or a feeling that it was just the right thing to do. It’s not surprising that it is hard to describe what makes Spinelli so special. What makes any of our pups special? And they all are – all dogs are unique and precious – it is a hard question to answer. I think one of the reasons it is so hard to explain is simply because words cannot do justice to the feelings and emotions we have for our dogs. It is about something so much more innate and essential. Something dogs and humans both have in common is the need for connection – to be loved and to love. Without a doubt, that connection is at the core of what makes our dogs so special to us.

It was an inspiring meetup with Spinelli and Ashley and hearing his HSWM adoption story. We can’t wait for the next! If you have an adopted HSWM pup and would like to nominate him for Pup of the Month Club, you can find more information and the entry form on the TDP website.