Meet beautiful 4-month-old black and tan smooth dappled 'Marbles,' who hails from the Los Angeles, California, area. As fate would have it, Marbles was born without a tail, and the sheath of his penis didn't develop all the way. The sheath is open with his penis hanging down from it, leaving it prone to infection if not kept clean. The puppy also has testicles, and a vagina in which she urinates out of.This story has been under discussion on several dachshund boards, and when we first read it, we didn't know how to handle such a delicate topic for inclusion on The Long and Short of it All. Our LA friend, Johnny Ortez, LA Small Dogs Examiner, (who we got to meet last year when he came to Chicago to Bark in the Park with us!), has handled the story quite well however, over at Examiner.com.
Kudos to Marbles' mom, Jennifer Ferrato, a full-time student at California State Long Beach, for being such a special human to Marbles. Read about it, see more pics, watch Marbles play in a video, and find out how to help at Examiner.com. Thanks to our pal 'Pee Wee,' aka P.W., our LA Connection, for the story tip.
I'm Marbles!
wow, never seen anything like it in a dog before. i read the article, but it wasn't so clear about the boy parts - is the penis at all functional? are they going to close it up completely? why not just remove it and make it a "girl"?
ReplyDeletelast night's private practice was about a hermaphrodite baby. so many difficult decisions for a human. but for a dog that will be neutered and have no real sexual identity anyway, i don't see the big deal. kudos indeed to marbles' mommy, and shame on those who want to take the "easy" way out.
please keep us updated on little marbles!
Bittersweet story. Sad to hear about this poor guy's condition, but heartened by the love of his mother. What a darling face.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you decided to go ahead and post Marbles' story. I'm sure that others have faced similar challenges. Marbles: we are rooting for you, cutie!
ReplyDeleteYour friends,
The Rebound Hounds
www.reboundhounds.blogspot.com
A Disabled Dog Advocacy Blog
That's so sad. Marbles, you're so cute!
ReplyDeleteHi this is Jennifer! After surgery, we found out marbles was indefinitely a lil boy... They closed the sheath of his penis and removed testicles. He urinates out of a urethra that is retract out the back below his butt. He has cute little butt cheeks because of it haha. He is 3 years old now and living a happy life thanks to all the people who I reached out to, to help me cover the cost of his initial surgery! Thanks again for all the support everyone. The little guy is my best friend :)
ReplyDelete