Shelby and Leon are doing great. Just had their third year check-up and vaccines with the vet and all is well.

Leon has grown to be a healthy, handsome and loving boy. He is so good. Loves his treats, rides in the car and walks. The boxer side of him may be a little more pronounced in his looks and personality than his coonhound side, but his sniffer is far superior to Shelby's! He weighs 62 pounds, but often overpowers Shelby during play time in the yard.

Shelby - well what can we say about Shelby - 78 pounds of pure and splendid bitch. There are moments when she can seem pretty normal, sometimes even loving, but food and territory guarding can send her into a whirlwind of frozen stare, barred teeth and guttural growling at a moment's notice. Shelby came home from the vet with a prescription of Composure - a homeopathic "calming" treat. We have learned to enjoy her "happy" times.

Our beautiful hounds have been enjoying a bit of snow here is St. Louis as we all wait for spring!
Lori and Brian
Shelby and Leon

24 February 2010

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Susanna (Shelby) and Alabaster Snowball (Leon) dress up as Twisted Sister and Leon Redbone to wish a Happy Halloween to American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue! Thank you for finding homes for Black and Tan Coonhounds all around the world! We love our doggies so very much! Lori and Brian Shelby and Leon 1 November 2009 Happy Birthday to all of Sergeant Pepper's children, the Sergeant Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band. Congratulations for entering your third year of life! Shelby wants to especially send her love to her Mom, Sergeant Pepper. Shelby celebrated her third birthday yesterday, August 15, with a special birthday cookie that she shared begrudgingly with Leon, and special basted bones all around! She is coming in to her own, slowly but surely. Never had such a challenging dog in all of our found dogs along life's road. Challenging, but worth it as we are starting to see a little inkling of love in Shelby's eyes now and then when she looks at us. Bark Buster was of special help in figuring out all of Shelby's peculiarities. Shelby also wants to know how there could be another dog on AB&TC named Shelby, especially such a good looking girl, and right before her birthday! Leon continues to be a dear and sweet boy. Very happy! Well, as you can see from the pictures, today the dogs are having after-birthday recovery. Just lounging around and watching baseball as the weather is a bit hot and rainy. Too much fun yesterday! AB&TC Rescue -- thank you for all you do in saving Black and Tan Coonhounds all across America, and thank you for being there to help us find Shelby and Leon. We are grateful to share our lives with them every single day. Lori and Brian Shelby and Leon 17 August 2009 Leon has a sock/towel fetish. Especially Rams and Cardinals rally towels. So, Leon has had some close calls and it has finally caught up with him. A Rams rally towel that just would not budge. Leon went in for surgery on Friday, January 23. It was a long surgery and they had to remove three feet of intestines. His recovery has been amazing and a week from now he should be back to his regular feeding schedule. Scared the heck out of us. Socks and towels are OFF LIMITS for Leon now. Shelby is still a Twisted Sister, but showing a bit of compassion for Leon in his compromised state. No compassion for us, however ... ; ) Congratulations on the grant from Build-A-Bear Workshop®! Loving American Black and Tan Coon Hounds and American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue for all you do! YOU are amazing! Lori and Brian 8 February 2009 Holiday Letter from Susanna and Alabaster Snowball: Susanna: Well, they refuse to call me Susanna. They call me by another name - Shelby - where the heck did THAT come from! AND they put these ridiculous things on my head, on my neck ... Make me pose ... FOR WHAT!! A little bit of cheese ... C'mon people. Leon: I LOVE my name. I LOVE the car. I LOVE to go for walks. I LOVE these darn antlers. I LOVE these people... They are so wonderful. I LOVE my forever home. Santa, I don't need a thing, I am SO happy!! Let's put on those antlers again and play some more! Lori and Brian 23 December 2008 Happy Second Birthday to all you Christmas Elves! Leon wants to send a special shout out to his brother Kosmo and sister (can¹t find her in the Happy Endings although I know she has a page!) possibly living in St. Louis also. Leon is absolutely the B-E-S-T of the best. Loving, kind and very patient with his temperamental sister. He knows his sits, downs and stays. We are working on recalls, but they prove a bit more difficult for Leon when his master sniffer takes over. He has an incredible sense of smell! He loves to cuddle. He loves car rides. He loves walks. He loves to jump (like an elk!) He LOVES life! Leon has made a very special place for himself in our lives and our hearts. Leon got a ³big boy² collar for his birthday along with a great chew toy for ³tough² chewers ­ a Goughnut. Goughnuts are terrific. Made in California (not China) and the green coloring turns red when it is time for the toy to be retired. So far we haven¹t seen red, which is amazing since every other chew toy introduced to Leon lasts about five minutes! Leon also shared a big doggie cookie with his sister. Cookie didn¹t last long! We love Leon so very, very much and give Thanks to American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue every day that we have to enjoy him. He is truly a treasure! Looking forward to more wonderful years with Leon. He just gets better and better! Lori and Brian 25 October 2008 Calling all of the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band members! Happy Birthday to y'all!! Please let us know how you are doing! We are celebrating Shelby's second birthday. The celebration began Friday, August 15, as we deemed that her birthday. We celebrated all weekend long! As you know, Shelby has been very challenging for us. In her short two years we have dealt with possessive aggression over food, toys and territory, submissive peeing and chronic bladder infections. Well, the good news is that she seems to be coming in to her own as she celebrates two years of life. A year ago we started Shelby on Prozac to calm her possessive aggression behaviors. We tried to wean her off many months ago and failed. After a week at half dose, her aggression flared and so we went back to her regular dose. Four weeks ago we cut her dose to half again and this time it has been smooth sailing! Shelby has become a loving and attentive dog. This weekend we will cut her back to every-other-day dose of Prozac and hope that it will go well. That is what the Mood Collar birthday present is for! ; ) We discovered Shelby had a bladder infection in February of this year. X-rays showed no abnormalities of the bladder. We treated with antibiotics and special food only to have the infection come back again and again! Further examination by our veterinarian showed that Shelby had a misshapen vulva - an "innie" that was also covered by a flap of skin. Our veterinarian believed this might be trapping urine and causing the bladder infections. He recommended a "vulvaplasty". After the vulvaplasty operation, we thought her chronic bladder infections would cease, but unfortunately urine tests continued to show large amounts of crystals. An ultrasound showed nothing unusual. So, we paid a visit to the University of Columbia School of Veterinary Medicine to see if they could help us. Urine tests through them came out somewhat clean, and Shelby is now on regular food again as we are keeping a close eye on her to see if the bladder infection will come back. If it does, then we go back to the University immediately so they can test again and figure out a treatment. So far, she is showing no more visible signs of bladder infection. Keeping our fingers crossed! As you can see, Shelby had a great birthday. She was a little impatient for her presents, begging Brian "Now, please!". We got her the leopard print mood collar which looks stunning on her! The stone has been blue-green since she put it on - that's good! She also got a new ball which she took right to Brian for some play time. We really love her so much, and now it appears that she is able to love us, too. Thank You to American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue for making this birthday celebration possible. We are in awe when we think about how many other birthday celebrations there are throughout the year, just because of you and all you do. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band - let us hear from you! Shelby wants to know how her brothers and sisters are doing. And Sgt. Pepper - thank you for bringing beautiful Shelby into the world! Lori and Brian Shelby and Leon 24 August 2008 We are just enjoying the pics of the Happy Endings page so very much. What a wonderful, beautiful, gorgeous group of dogs! So proud to be a part of Black and Tan Rescue with our own two that we wanted to add more pictures to Shelby and Leon’s page. As you know, Shelby had surgery in March because her vulva was misshaped allowing urine to collect and create bladder infections. We have been monitoring her since the surgery and are still finding crystals in her urine samples. So, we continue to treat with special diet and antibiotics. Shelby had ultrasound last week (you can see her lovely shaved belly in the picture of her and Leon). Luckily, no cancer or bladder stones were found, so our vet is now researching canine bladder specialists. We want to see the very best Doctor and get this thing taken care of for Shelby. Her temperament has improved since we have been treating her. She has become a very loving and attentive (and beautiful – but she knows that) dog. Leon is just a dear, how can we say more about Leon (well, we could go on and on!). So loving, so wonderful, so handsome. Together they make a great pair and keep us smiling! Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue is a very special group. Thank you for all you do for Black and Tan Coonies all over. These dogs all deserve the very best of life and because of you they are living it! You all should feel very proud of the work you do. Lori and Brian 18 June 2008 Happy Birthday to all Christmas Elves! Leon (formerly Alabaster Snowball) is celebrating his first birthday today. We really celebrated yesterday. We are now in Family Dog 4 at the local Humane Society classes sponsored by the St. Louis Dog Training Club. So proud of Shelby (formerly Susanna) and Leon, they are the hound masters of recall. No other dog can match them! After class the celebration continued with a round of “Happy Birthday to Leon” and Booda bones. Later on, Nylabones (Leon just couldn’t quite stay awake after the Nylabone!) The hounds’ are getting ready for Halloween with their costumes. Leon the Pirate and Shelby (of course, what else) a witch! Next doggy celebration for us comes in November as we celebrate a year with Shelby. We love, Love, LOVE them so very much!! Lori and Brian 25 October 2007 Calling all Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band members!! We just celebrated Shelby’s first birthday and hope that her brothers and sisters are all doing the same. We designated August 15 as her birthday. It was a hot, hot day here in Missouri, so celebrations took place inside with chew toys. The green tennis ball bone didn’t last long, but the round ring is a winner! Tough toy. Anyway, we will be celebrating Leon’s birthday later on in October as we have designated October 15 for Leon’s birthday. We are celebrating Leon today because this is his six month anniversary with us. Chew hooves for everyone!! Just had to drop a note and a few pics to let everyone know how Shelby and Leon are doing. We love them so very much. Every day is a gift! Lori and Brian 4 September 2007 Hello from St. Louis. It's been a while since we posted pictures of Shelby (formerly Susanna from Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band) and Leon (formerly Alabaster from the Christmas Elves). They are a joy!! Total opposites. Shelby is type A+++++ (excitable girl), Leon is very laid back (gentle boy). They balance each other and us! Leon is such a calm and loving boy with very soft eyes and ears that he likes to wear in a blown back type of fashion. He still likes to chew on wood (we heard his favorite puppy toy was a 2x4). He loves our young cat Ricci and they can be found sleeping together at times. Leon loves the outdoors and really does not bark unless it is called for. He also loves to ride in the car. Just a sweet, sweet boy he is." Shelby is hot like fire! She has a bit of a aggressive/possessive eating disorder, so we have been hand feeding her. Someday she and Leon will be able to eat dinner together, we are working on that. She is also wearing a D.A.P. Collar to provide calming pheromones. So far she seems a bit more balanced because of it. She gets a new one this weekend. She loves barking at anything (excuse me, it really should be described as a a blow your hair back braaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!). We are working on "good quiet" out in the yard and she has been very responsive. Shelby hates riding in the car, going for walks or anything that she feels she has no control over. She likes to be at home where she can pretend to be the boss. We love her for all of that : ) We have been attending Family Dog classes at the local Humane Society. Both Shelby and Leon graduated from Family Dog 1 after three sessions. Now in Family Dog 2, which is a little more challenging, but both doggy dogs may graduate next class, according to the instructor. We are so very proud of them and love them both with all our hearts. We’ve probably have had our hands full, but it truly has been a joy. As the photos only show that momentary bit of time captured forever, it’s hard to get the full effect of the continuous joy and amusement these two bring us. What a GREAT dog Leon is - he's perfect - and distracts the Shelbernator when she’s FULL tilt! Thanks for the work you do – these two have found their “forever” home! Life is happier with an American Black and Tan Coonhound (or two!) Lori and Brian 17 July 2007 She is doing GREAT. Learning every day. "Smart, smart, smart" is my description. Okay, so we’re a little sleep deprived and she’s a bundle of whoop a$$ sometimes but it’s been GREAT so far. As Lori and I can both attest to, there’s NOTHING like sleeping with a Coonie! We put a new crate in the bedroom as she quickly outgrew the plastic carrier we picked her up in and we didn’t want to leave her in the downstairs crate at night. I think she slept in that crate for maybe part of one night and then I was awoken by her nose after Lori let her out and decided that it was time to let her try sleeping with us. She does great in both of our crates when necessary although she hates being in one when we’re anywhere in the vicinity. She’s getting closer each week to being house broken and she does try, bless her. She loves being good. doesn’t seem to mind stretching a bit to see what’s what but that’s the smart part, too. She knows what to chew on, has plenty of toys and sometimes will go upstairs to find a favorite she’s been moving from floor to floor. What a smarty!! We really appreciate all the work you do and we simple LOVE Shelby. Thanks for all your hard work and continued efforts. Brian and Lori 9 December 2006 She's beautiful!! We named her Shelby, since that is where we first met. She has settled in fine with the other dogs and cats here. Her best friend so far is our 4 month old kitten. We love her so much!! One of Shelby's favorite new toys is a plush raccoon. Took to it immediately. Go figure. Well, this is as close to the real thing that she will see with us since she won't be hunting, but I couldn't help getting it when I saw it. Thanks for all of your help. The work that you are doing for the Black and Tan Coonhound is awesome! Brian and Lori 12 November 2006