11/11/2025
Mr. X has formally been adopted! This cutie was placed in an ARM alumni home as a foster to adopt, and Mr. X, now named Pippin, is officially in his forever home.
Here's a story of the journey shared by his new family - we are so thankful and grateful that Pippin has them in his corner:
"We're ARM alumni and our big boy Griffin (formerly Simba) is nearing end stage lymphoma (but still doing well! It's just his fifth remission and we're pretty sure how this will end...). Around the time that Griffin was finishing 2nd place in various state 4H agility and obedience work in August (told you he was doing well!), we started thinking about a potential future agility dog. We've got another ARM rescue (Luna, formerly Lulu), who is a great dog but just isn't into the whole running around thing (unless it's after a squirrel). So we approached ARM with an interest in trying out fostering -- we knew there were a lot of dogs needing help, and we knew we had some room in our hearts and house to help out a dog in need.
You may have seen the dog that we fostered on an ARM livestream. Mr. X, as he was known at the time, had been abandoned in his previous home. Nobody knew much about him -- even the Sheriff who dropped him off with ARM wasn't sure of his original name. So, Mr. X it was. What we knew: he was a Mister, and potentially even a dad. We knew he had just had his third round of flea medicine (this last one was the medical-grade stuff from the vet). His coat was so overgrown that we thought he had a full tail. Nope -- that was a tiny little Aussie nub wagging a whole lot of extra fur. A couple days after neutering, we took over his care with the guidance from ARM.
Within a few days, we grew worried -- Mr. X had a growth on his neck that was suspiciously similar to Griffin's lymphoma! We drove him out to the vet to get checked out, and were relieved to discover that it was *just* an infection. The kind vet at Barrington Oaks found bite marks near Mr. X's neck. Turns out, in the place where he was abandoned -- we should have mentioned he wasn't alone. He was abandoned by humans, but the humans left other dogs in the house too (told you, Mr. X might be a dad...). Turns out that one of those dogs got into a disagreement with Mr. X and teeth were exchanged and an infection grew. The vet pointed out the bite marks -- top of the head, and in the neck. A round of antibiotics did the trick, and soon, Mr. X was growing into his adoptive family.
Thing is, we didn't know too much about Mr. X other than he was abandoned and also had a recent bad dog experience, so we figured that he hadn't had much experience recently with energetic activities. Between his previous house, the Sheriff's vehicle, the first ARM contact, the vet, and then us (where he was recovering from his neutering experience with the help of a giant plastic cone and a large kennel), we figured he hadn't much opportunity to really run in a while. In time, the cone came off his neck, and he started staying outside the cage more often, and he began moving around our yard.
That's when we noticed the limp. He'd run and have fun with our dogs, but then come inside with a noticeable hop. "Too much time in the kennel" we thought. So when the time was right, we changed his kennel time strictly to feeding times (to ensure that the resident dogs weren't competing for food with the new dog). Still, we noticed a limp. Luna (one of the resident dogs and ARM alumni) not only isn't much for energetic activity in the first place, but she also popped her ACL about a year ago. Told you, squirrels and dogs. So when Pippin looked like Luna, we thought "Huh, let's check out this next thing."
The X-Rays showed something truly interesting -- Mr. X -- who we had now named "Pippin" -- had severe bilateral hip dysplasia. Those ball and socket joints in the hips? His socket is...kinda flat. But there's no pain, no lack of movement (other than the awkward hopping he tends to do), and he's happily keeping up with the other dogs (and squirrels).
At that point we knew exactly what to do. Given that we are a home to a cancer-survivor dog and an ACL-less dog, we knew that we were the right home for Pippin -- the dog with half-hips.
Pippin is legit the most cuddly dog you can imagine. He is non-reactive around people and other dogs (so he didn't take that attack at his previous home too seriously). He's perfectly house-trained and interested in obedience. Agility? Well, he jumps over various things in the yard, so we'll see where that goes. His coat -- trimmed and frail from his battle with fleas -- has been growing out luxuriously. He's great with kids and cats and squir...well, he loves chasing squirrels too. So he fits right in with the rest of the herd. But that part about cuddling? He is a velcro Aussie. Full stop. And the thing is -- he comes up to you every day with a smile on his face, and his little nub of a tail wagging a mile a minute. He's not strictly a therapy dog, but to be near him is therapy in itself.
Pippin is well-loved by three kids, two adults, and 2 other ARM alumni who have accepted him into the family. Oh yeah, and 6 cats too (that's another story about rescue animals that we promise won't happen again. Promise). We're looking forward to doing some physical therapy with Pippin and eventually seeing his trajectory for obedience and maybe even agility. If he can get those hip muscles strengthened enough...the sky's the limit!"
Congratulations Pippin and family!
