Meet our wonderful client Michelle Mercer!

From Kelly Technician, LVT:

In my thirteen years working for Gentle Doctor, I have had the pleasure of getting to know Michelle Mercer and all of her amazing dogs. Through smiles and tears (and nail trims) she is one of the most caring and passionate people I know. Michelle will go to the ends of the earth for her four-legged companions. 

From Michelle:

Tell us more about the pets you have now and the pets you have had in the past.

My name is Michelle, and I am a software engineer at a company here in Omaha. I currently have five dogs with whom I share my life. Dixie was my sixteen year old Australian Shepherd mix adopted from the Nebraska Humane Society when I was still living in an apartment. I got her when my engagement broke off, and she was definitely a better deal than the husband I would have had! She was so smart, and through training and living with her, she taught me so much about dogs that I would never have known otherwise. 

Dixie, the energizer bunny!

We moved to a house after about six months, and I adopted Barney, a Basset Hound mix from the Nebraska Humane Society who was being treated for heartworms. I thought it would be good to have a lower energy dog in the mix, but Barney was a smart cookie and definitely not the complete couch potato I was expecting. I even trained him in agility, and he was pretty darned good! That just got me hooked on Basset Hounds.

Barney

I decided to foster for a nearby Basset Hound rescue and received a Basset named Goofy who was the sweetest thing ever; I just had to adopt her. Immediate foster failure! 

Goofy

I volunteered at the Nebraska Humane Society for many years after adopting Barney, including adoption counseling and fostering dogs and puppies in my home. I had always been interested in Ibizan Hounds and Pharaoh Hounds growing up but never thought I would own one. Then came my first Ibizan Hound rescue, Bear, one of twenty one Ibizans the Nebraska Humane Society rescued and helped place. He was missing half of his tail and had urine burns but still had the sweetest nature. It didn’t take long and I was hooked on this breed too. 

Bear

I did adopt another foster from Nebraska Border Collie Rescue, my border collie Ciaran. He suffered a lot of abuse, and I tried to do what I could to rehabilitate him. I learned the hard way that you cannot always save all of them. In final desperation, I sought the advice of an aggression expert, and she was not at all hopeful. He was unpredictable and didn’t show typical signs of when he might attack someone.  I made the difficult decision to euthanize him.        

Ciaran

I decided that I loved Bear so much, I wanted to have another Ibizan Hound and definitely one with some of his pedigree. That is how I got Kenya, my total spoiled brat, aka ‘The Hairdresser’.  If she likes you, she will rub herself on your head. 

Bear and Baby Kenya

Kenya

A friend of mine who has one of Kenya’s sisters saw two Portuguese Podengo Medio sisters at a shelter in California and fell in love with one. The other looked just like a miniature Kenya. She convinced me that we had to rescue them, so after several weeks of arrangements and one hurricane later, I got my little Darby flown out to me. She is an odd dog, won’t walk on hard floors (tile, wood, cement), but she is the sweetest little thing. I am not convinced that she isn’t part Basenji as she has the curly tail and many of the quirky traits of a Basenji, just didn’t get the no barking trait.

After I was down to just my three girls, Dixie, Kenya and Darby, I started fostering for IHCUS (Ibizan Hound Club of the United States) Rescue. Of course, that just meant I fell in love and added two sweet boys to my pack.

Shay came from a horrible situation similar to what Bear went through. I don’t think he knew much about life outside of a kennel run in his first four years. Once he got to my house, he immediately discovered the bed and the comfort of a pillow. He has been sleeping next to me ever since.

Shay

Chevy was a champion show dog who found himself in a retirement home with a Chihuahua, and I think he didn’t realize how big he was and accidently injured the little dog. Next thing you know, he was advertised on Craigslist, and when Ibizan Hound people saw that, we grabbed him. He is the dog with the perfect manners, a Labrador in an Ibizan Hound suit, he loves everyone!

Chevy and Darby

Chico

Then there’s my Mom’s little dog Chico. He was a puppy mill rescue from Basset and Beagle Rescue of the Heartland even though he is neither. They say he is a Parson Russell Terrier, but he is a pretty laid back version of a terrier in general. He loves playing with and grooming the big dogs, no one told him that he was a little guy!

Tell us about when you first met the Gentle Doctor team or a story about the team others may not know. 

I loved my Basset Hound, Goofy, so much but she was clearly suffering. We had determined that she probably had inoperable cancer. I was a mess when I brought her in to Gentle Doctor, and I knew I didn’t have the strength to stay with her when they gave her the injections. I still remember how carefully Dr. Madden scooped her up into his arms, and I gave her a kiss on the head. The thing that really got me was that then Dr. Madden bent down and he kissed her on her head as he left the room. You know you have a caring vet when they feel the pain as much as you do.

What have you learned about pets that you did not know as a kid or before you had your own pets?

Seeing so many abused animals over the years, I don’t think when I was growing up we really had a good idea of how important those formative weeks and months are for puppies/kittens. Even today, there are so many people ignorant of how important it is to expose a puppy to so many new things that I think a lot of issues could be avoided.

Do you have wisdom about any medical conditions that you could share with someone who is perhaps just starting to walk their pet through a similar situation? 

Fortunately or not, my sixteen year old Dixie had been living with kidney disease for over four years. I really thought that when she was diagnosed at twelve years old and we would have to do subcutaneous fluids daily as well as make dietary changes and supplements that was it. No way did I think she would still be around four years later. She slowed down some over the last couple of years, dislocating a hip didn’t help, but acupuncture with Dr. Jones really helped her keep up her spunky attitude right until the end.

Do you have a favorite breed or type of pet?  I think I have a dog addiction. Period. But I do have a soft spot for my hounds and border collies.

Is there a shelter or rescue group that is dear to you that you would like us to help spread the word about? 

IHCUS (Ibizan Hound Club of the United States) Rescue. I am proud to say that most Ibizan Hound breeders love the breed so much and support rescue. Of course, a good breeder will always take back one of the dogs that they bred but there are always circumstances where that isn’t possible (ex. the breeder dies or has health issues, the owner gives the dog away, a dog ends up as a stray), and that is where IHCUS Rescue steps in to take care of Ibizan Hounds in need of a new home.