She was not with us long enough, and it is no lie when I tell you she was one of the sweetest souls one could ever meet.  I know she will be waiting patiently for her foster mom to join her.

Written with love by Wrinkles mother…

Wrinkles came to our home on January of 2010. She was a tiny little shar-pei - with a very big personality. She came to us unsure of herself, and along with her came a very large bag of different medications from the vet clinic.

Wrinkles suffered from a terrible ear infection, a bladder infection, and painful arthritis in all of her joints (at the young age of four years old). She was very stiff with joint pain. I remember that first day of having her we had to make up a chart of all the different types of medications she needed throughout the day and the dosages - it was rather overwhelming. As well, because of her arthritis and weak joints - Wrinkles could not walk on any flat slippery surfaces (such as hardwood floors) without falling down, and unfortunately the majority of the floors in our home ARE wood floors, so after she had slipped a few times on the floors we decided something had to be done - so the rescue provided us with multiple area rugs and we basically carpeted our entire home with area rugs to prevent Wrinkles from having any bad falls. The many patched together area rugs looked very strange - but they worked wonderfully and soon Wrinkles was strutting about "her" house with confidence.

Wrinkles quickly settled in and became at home with our family. She was very respectful and polite - I was amazed at her sweet disposition, she was wonderful with our two young daughters and would spend time with them quietly laying on the floor curled up, watching tv - and she would very often groom the kids just like a mother grooming her pups. 

Days passed by and we noticed a lot of improvement in Wrinkles. Her awful ear infection had cleared up nicely, as did her bladder infection - and you could tell she was feeling so much better. We started her on a high quality diet along with vitamin and glucosamine suppliments and Omega 3 fish oil.

Wrinkles was unable to walk very far, or very fast because of her joints, but she loved our small daily walks we would take down the street. She would see me pick up her leash and would snort and shake her head in a goofy way, wagging her tail and dancing in happy little circles. Wrinkles soon became very popular in our neighborhood, everyone immediatly loved her calm pleasant nature, and she just had a very peaceful presence about her. Even my elderly neighbor next door to me who has always disliked every dog that came along, loved Wrinkles. She would see Wrinkles slowly plodding down the street and would smile at her and comment on how wonderful Wrinkles is doing and how much she was improving. 

There was one unfortunate setback where Wrinkles had a bad fall and had a lot of pain in her hip- we brought her to the vet clinic and they did x-rays to determine if anything was broken. They found that she had some soft tissue damage from the fall, but luckily no breaks. The strange thing that they DID find on the x-ray, was a metal bottlecap in her stomach!   At some point in her previous home Wrinkles must have consumed the bottlecap, and now it needed to be removed, as it could cause damage if left for long term. The vet attempted to have Wrinkles throw up the bottle cap but that failed, so she had to have it surgically removed. Poor Wrinkles, on top of everything else she had to have the stomach surgery. The surgery was successful and they removed a rusty Molson Canadian bottle cap and gave it to me in a small container (which I still have).

After spending a couple days of bed-rest at the vet, Wrinkles finally came home, and she was so stiff and sore and weak in her hind end, she could barely walk. We had to carry Wrinkles outside and help her squat down to relieve herself. She was also in a great deal of pain from her stomach surgery - but throughout all of this, Wrinkles kept in high spirits and was very happy just to be "home". She would limp around after the kids, and you could see her desire to run and play, she would raise her head up and perk her ears, eyes shining, watching people intently - but her body would not allow what her mind desired, so she would just watch. The thing that inspired me the most about Wrinkles is that she always accepted her life the way it was - with dignity, even through all her pain, and her physical limitations, she kept in excellent spirits and never complained or felt sorry for herself. She just took life one day at a time - enjoying the great small pleasures in life, such as sun bathing in her favorite spot on the porch. 

After Wrinkles injury, the vet had warned us that her recovery would be very slow, and he was very unsure that she would even recover, after seeing her in the amount of pain she was in, he said he has only ever seen a dog in that amount of pain when it has broken limbs - and I had even heard someone at the clinic say that it might be kinder to just let her go, so she wouldn’t suffer - but we knew Wrinkles deserved every chance to have a happy life, and soon Wrinkles proved everyone at the clinic wrong by making a wonderful speedy recovery from her injury and surgery - every day she grew a little stronger, and walked a little better, and soon her limp was completely gone, and she was out plodding around the neighbourhood - proud and in good spirits.

Wrinkles was showing so much improvement that the rescue put her into a swimming therapy class to help with her arthritis - she did fabulous in the water and was weightless and free of pain - she swam fast and strong, and did so well that the rescue bought Wrinkles her own small 10' pool for the backyard - and we bought her a fancy pink life jacket to go with it. Now Wrinkles could enjoy swimming every day throughout the summer - I would go in the pool with her and she would swim around in circles, it was wonderful for her, and it was so great to feel her heart pounding from the exercise, something she could not accomplish by walking.     

Weeks and months passed by, and Wrinkles continued to thrive - she grew stronger in her hind end, and did not have any more incidences with slipping or falling down. She would never be a normal four year old dog, but she was happy - and that was the most important thing.

Then, one day my two young daughters came running and shouting that Wrinkles couldn't breath - I almost dismissed them as being silly, but I went to check on her anyways and to my shock I found her laying on the floor in respiratory distress, she was gasping and struggling to breath. I was slightly panicked as I quickly gathered the kids up and carried Wrinkles out to the car - we rushed her to the nearest veterinary hospital, and they immediatly did an x-ray, which showed her lungs were filled with fluid - they attempted to relieve the fluid from her lungs and save her life, but only short moments later, our sweet little Wrinkles quietly passed away.

I will never forget Wrinkles, who was much more to us then just a dog, she was a wonderful intelligent soul.. and her sweet calm nature, with the ability to love life just the way it is, regardless of her physical limitations.

It was only until now, after writing this that I realized something - we know that every rescue and shelter dog deserves to have a happy home with a loving family, and I always felt sad that Wrinkles never was adopted, and she never found her home. Then I realized that all the time we had her, she WAS home, and she had a loving family with us - because who am I kidding - we never would have let her go.

Wrinkles.. this little shar-pei is absolutely lovely. 

She is four years old and as sweet as pie.  She does have some arthritis so we are looking for a home with no stairs and a floor covering, perhaps some area rugs to make it easier for her to navigate. 

Wrinkles is good with other dogs and is currently living with small children and a pug friend.

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