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| THE COLONY NEWS | NOVEMBER 2022 | 27 Kennel Club By Greg Bennett, Xena's Dad As many of you have had to do, a while back we had to put our precious dog down, as she was completely blind and unable to walk. It is heartbreaking. After mourning her loss, I wanted to have a new "puppy" in my life. On a whim, my wife and I decided to go to Animal Friends of the Valley and just browse at the rescues. Just as we were leaving, we spot this beautiful Australian Cattle dog. Our eyes met and it was love at first lick. I told a staff person I wanted to adopt this dog right now. We got all the paperwork done and I was told that I need to wait 10 days to give the previous owner (who abandoned her there) a chance to change his/her mind. Okay, we can wait. We decided to take the RV on a trip. Four days into the trip, we get a call that we can pick her up any time. So yes, we broke down camp and went to pick her up. That's when the fun started… NOT. May I present to you, the miracle dog, "Xena" Princess Warrior (photo inset). When we picked her up, we made an appointment to get her spayed and a rabies shot. On the appointment day, we dropped her off and two hours later the doctor called saying she had stopped breathing. With a nurse doing rescue breathing, they rushed her to the doggy hospital where they did CPR and brought her back to life. I thought we were done. Boy was I wrong. An X-ray of her insides showed all her guts, stomach, intestines, and liver had moved up into her chest cavity and was squishing her heart and lungs which made it impossible for her to breathe. Evidently the spay surgery relaxed her muscle so much that everything came up and into her chest through a hernia. We then took her to a surgeon at Chino Hills Veterinarian Hospital, where they were prepared to do the hernia surgery to put all her guts back in the abdomen and sew her up. We dropped her off and two hours later got a call from the doctor saying they can get everything back in except the liver. They can't get the liver out of her chest because it had grown into her chest cavity. Evidently the liver had been there since birth and had attached itself to her chest cavity and wrapped itself around the main vein that runs from head to tail. They felt if they tried to take the liver out, she was going to bleed out. Without the liver out she would have an unpleasant life. We decided the right thing to do was to put her down and told the doctor to do so. It was very sad for the whole family, and everyone was in tears (me). Two hours later I get a call from the doctor saying he decided to go in and give it a try anyway and had removed the liver from the chest and the main vessel and had put everything back where it was supposed to be, and I could pick up my dog. I was waiting until we had the staples out and all was well before writing this. I am happy to report that Xena is alive and well. She is acting like a normal puppy fetching balls and playing all day long. I truly have a miracle dog. Thanks to all of you who helped with your thoughts and prayers through all of this. The Colony Cousins Genealogy Club is pleased to announce that the speaker for our Tuesday, Nov. 8, meeting will be Fay Bishop. Fay and her late husband, Bill, were founding members of our club. They were also researchers for the Pioneers of Murrieta, California Buried in Laurel Cemetery, a book published by The Colony Cousins. Fay will be speaking to us about the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), which she has been a member of for 20 years. Her presentation will focus on the objectives of the Society, some of her ancestors in general, and how she found them. Fay is also a member of 12 Lineage Societies so that her family's history can be on record in various places. She has served in all offices of her Chapter, Director of District XI, and as California Chairman of Overseas Chapters. She is also an Associate Member of the Sasebo Chapter in Japan, and the Alexander Keith Chapter in Tennessee. Our meetings start promptly at 1 pm in the Annex, and sign- ins are at 12:45 pm. Visitors are always invited to attend and, if interested, to join. If you have questions, please call Lennie Martin, acting president, at (503) 269-9987. Genealogy By Kathleen Brown, 698-5244

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