Kelly sure enjoyed Christmas!

One of the nicest Christmas presents I received this year was watching how much Kelly enjoyed the presents and Christmas morning... She was RIGHT there, excited about the presents and watching them being opened, interacting with the other dogs, etc... For someone with her background, she acted like any other normal dog and had such a GRAND time!

Kelly is one of the lucky ones... She did not spend her entire life as a bait dog - unlike Pokey who is still undergoing rehabilitation and is fostered in Florida...  I'm not even sure if Kelly was traumatized to the extent Pokey is... It was a work of karma that we found Kelly when we did... Or that she managed to escape from her life and be found by animal control...

Video taken of our adult dogs at adoptions

Finally, update on Yukon...

Yukon is one ounce short of 5 pounds and is now healthy... He's eating well since his dental and is right at the weight he should be... We know for sure he doesn't like cats and gets along with the other dogs for the most part... He'd like to be more of the alpha leader of the pack, but respects the fact he is not...

Yukon prefers to 'hang out' with people and realizes he is a dog, but would probably have chosen differently if given a choice... He's such a beautiful dog with unusual markings... While he'd never withstand the cold, he sure does look like a snow dog!

Update on Sunshine...

We have now had Sunshine with us for seven months and we're shocked she is still with us~!!!... 

She's friendly at adoptions now and allows people to pet her... She plays ALL DAY LONG with the pups and babies... She's always tended to play with Nacho, but seems to favor the younger dogs... Sunshine weighs 8.3 pounds and will be 2 years old soon... Maybe Santa will bring her a furever home, 'cause she's been a good girl this year!

Scooby continues to make progress...

Scooby continues to steadily make progress... Last night for the first time, he stayed on the couch when we sat down... And stayed within 6" of us, allowing us to gently reach over and pet him from time to time... No shaking, no 'bolt like on nitro' off the couch, nothing... He stayed and 'enjoyed the moment' like any other dog would do...

Scooby now weighs 9 pounds and he's not the type of dog to be overweight, so this is just where he needs to be... He'd still prefer to be 'Mr. Invisible' for the most part, but his world is not built on fear 24/7 now... Great potential to be a fabulous dog!

Update on Missy...

We've checked Missy's weight - she weighs 6 pounds, 7 ounces... And she did great at adoptions on Saturday... Not apprehensive about being in a kennel, nor the ride to adoption, Missy was fine in the Xpen milling about with the other dogs and watching the people that came by...

She has EASILY fit into the routine around here and practices her small, 'lady-like' snore while watching TV with her eyes closed... ... Not aggressive with the other dogs, she's developed into a lap dog with minimal effort... Missy enjoys laying in the sun during the morning, getting her beauty sleep with everyone else... 

She has begun to hand out kisses already and has not been with us that long at all... Sweet pup!

Update on Millie...

Millie now weighs 7 pounds and we have moved her to the front Xpen at adoptions... She no longer growls at dogs she knows or new dogs she has yet to meet... She doesn't see people as something to be afraid of, but she has learned that humans are the supreme alpha of the pack and need to be minded...

Millie is about 75% potty trained now and if you are really diligent, 100%...  While she has FINALLY figured out what piddy pads are for, she's not always on the piddy pad before she starts... Millie is still a work in progress in this respect, but if she's outside?... 100%... She knows what the outside is for and she's not stupid... It is just consistently catching her in the act, rewarding her with praise when she does it correctly and when she doesn't?  Taking her out on the spot in the hope she finally 'gets it'...

Millie routinely plays throughout the day with Nacho and Sunshine, so she has come a VERY long way in a short amount of time...

Update on Kelly....

We weighed Kelly with our new digital scale (thank you someone special for the gift!) and she weighs 12 pounds, 14 ounces... Kelly routinely works out on the treadmill and has developed into the sweetest ever dog after months of rehabilitation...

Her coat has come in 110% now as you can see when you compare her blog photo and the one below... Kelly is learning basic dog obedience commands... She's potty- and doggie door trained, along with Xpen- and crate-trained...

We have never known her to have an accident in the house and we have even broken the bad barking habit she had... She routinely sees BIG dogs at adoptions and no longer reacts to them... She would do well with children and despite her rough beginnings, she has grown into a great dog.

Update on Ginger...

Thanks to the generous gift of a digital scale, we are more accurately able to weigh the TLC dogs and puppies!  Ginger now weighs 11 pounds, 6 ounces and her coat has grown in beyond beautiful now.

She's one of our 'stabilizer' dogs at adoptions because she's so evenly balanced... Although she still has 'things to say' when she approaches anyone, take her out of the Xpen and she immediately rolls over on her back for a belly rub... 

She's one of the most evenly tempered dogs I have ever run across... Nothing phases her... 

She's friendly towards all - dogs and humans alike... We're amazed she's not yet found her furever home... A true sweetheart if there ever was one!... Maybe Santa will bring her one???  'Cause she's been a VERY good girl this year!

Video of the Christmas puppies...

Ralph, the puppy, stopped by adoptions on Saturday and took a video of the other puppies available for adoption... (Ralph's been adopted already and LOVES his parents despite not having fur coats themselves!)

In the video, two of the six puppies have already been adopted - Noel, the brindle female and Nick, the tan male with the blue and purple collar on.

The other four puppies have not yet been adopted:

Annette (tan female, 11 weeks)

Frankie (black male, 11 weeks)

Georgia (black & tan female MinPin, 9 weeks)

Rudy (tan male with blue collar - 8 weeks).

We STRONGLY urge everyone to NOT give puppies as Christmas presents... the craziness of tiny puppies, Christmas trees and presents, small children and their excitement over the season, etc. are just not good mixes.  It is seldom a 'Hallmark' kind of event and many of these live Christmas presents end up in our shelter in January or later when the spirit of the holiday season has passed and the puppy is still pooping and peeing on your rugs!

Christmas Puppies - the best EVER Christmas present! 

We should call this guy the 'Comeback Kid'...

I am thinking I should change Prince's name to the 'Comeback Kid'... There were times --- especially when he totally stopped eating for me, and then the green yuck that kept pouring out of his nose and eyes --- that I thought for SURE I was going to lose him... I realize that the vet diagnosed it as pneumonia, but with all the swine flu warnings going around, I seriously wondered if he had the canine flu and not just pneumonia...

Prince realizes that we are just plain ole softies around here... He's figured us out... For all the 'stuff' we demand of the dogs ("go potty OUTSIDE, not in here!", "BE nice", "Who's growling - there's no growling (barking) in rescue", etc.), he has pegged us alright...

Recently I switched around my desk and what we call the 'Chihuahua Penthouse', turning the desk into a corner desk and extending the Chihuahua Penthouse 200% in size for the optimum space in front of the window that the dogs sunbathe in the mornings now that it is colder...

I added a second set of steps so there were no longer 'gatekeepers of the steps' and a few warm blankees... The area has now become a morning haven, for where we are - the dogs are...

Prince has figured out that the two desk lamps on the top of my desk generate heat (as I myself figured out when I sat my keyboard too close to one and melted a few of the keys... OH MY~!!!)... He consistently steps onto my desk and tries to lay down underneath one of the lights - usually on top of the papers I'm working with at the time as you can see in another photo...

Finally this morning I gave in, after lifting him off my desk three times... Easier to join them if you can't beat them, ya know?... (Maybe I set up this scenario when I named him 'Prince'... Who knows?)... But I cleared off MY working space from papers and files, re-arranged a few things and grabbed a clean doggie bed to fit into that spot for him...

As soon as he saw it, Prince stepped gingerly across my keyboard, did half a turn and then immediately fell asleep in the doggie bed... As I type this, he is sleeping soundly and snoring to my left underneath the lamp... It is far enough away that it is not too hot to his body, but yet close enough to give him that extra little bit of warmth...

I noticed this morning that his collar finally fits him and if he continues to gain weight for me, I'll have to readjust it a notch larger... Won't bother me~!!!...

I sent more than one prayer skywards in the plea that I'd not lose this dog to pneumonia or whatever uggly mugglies he had brought with him...

He still has a bit of respiratory stuff going on... But the yuck is finally clear and not green any longer... Prince is used to being given meds now, especially after the force feeding days of baby food when he was so sick!... And his nose leather is no longer crusty and white, but coming back in rich charcoal like God intended it to be...

This morning as he was standing, I noticed one nail had grown a bit too long... I reached for my clippers and as he sat, he allowed me to trim it back without having to restrain him in any fashion...

Prince is just another example of my belief that is NOT the shelters who are the 'bad guys' in the problem of an enormous unwanted overpopulation of these little ones in our shelters... Instead, it is the general public who dump these little guys off in the misguided belief that someone will give them a home...

The shelter system does the best it can, given the funding it has, but these little ones just don't do well in that kind of environment... While Prince and his sister, Buttercup, were listed as aggressive and too hard to handle by the shelter staff, I feel it was more the massive change in their environment that caused both to deal with the change the best way they could...

As I have been typing, Prince has yawned and stretched out in the warm spot he's in... Yes, he is one aggressive dog, huh?...

We weighed him yesterday and he's gained 5 ounces... That might not seem like much, but for how deeply sick he got as he fought off whatever he had, we are VERY pleased with the weight gain he is making...

Although he still needs to gain more weight, he is definitely a sweetie pie and will make someone a GREAT dog once he is ready to be adopted... Just the beautiful coloring of his coat alone, but his sweet personality is even bigger than the appearance in this little one... A treasure for sure - a prince if nothing else - but definitely a "find' in our local shelters...

If TLC does not have the dog or puppy you are looking for, PLEASE take a trip to the local shelters before the holidays and find the furever furbaby of your dreams... Trust me - they are there waiting for you - and there are tons of GREAT dogs and puppies available for adoption.

Just some warm fuzzies....

Although we are passionate about rescue and saving these little guys' lives, sometimes it can really be a grueling thing to go through... There's never enough money to get all the vet care some of these shelter dogs need... We are limited by the number of dogs we can save in ratio to the number of foster homes we have... The puppymills keep churning out 'product' while at the end of the production line (shelters and rescues) we simply cannot keep up with the onslaught of too many unwanted companion animals and not enough good homes to go around... 

And then every once in awhile, something happens and you just know in your heart of hearts you are doing the right thing despite all the adversity you encounter... Last week it was Charleyboy finding his furever home just in time for the Christmas holidays... And yesterday it was Walter finding his furever home too!


I don't believe I have ever seen a more sorely neglected little one come through the shelter system before Walter... I'm sure there have been some, but he certainly was the worst I have ever seen... The 'less than perfect' dogs are the ones that normally get passed by, so I thought Walter might be with us for quite some time... But when the shelter contacted me about Walter, I just KNEW it was NOT his time to die... Despite the poor condition of his coat and shape of his mouth, Walter's demeanor was just so absolutely sweet... And his little 'giddy-up gait'?... And that little tongue that just sticks out at you... Priceless... Pure canine gold in a petite and darling package!


Walter won the hearts and a great furever home yesterday and we are just SO happy for the little guy!... THESE are the warm fuzzies that rejuvenate us, motivating us to keep doing what we do, despite everything!


WAY TO GO, WALTER!


 

Angels do live among us - Pepi

Lifeline 4 Paws have taken on Pepi's surgery financially... And it couldn't have come at a better time!... Donations to nonprofit charities have virtually dried up as the economy sagged, and his surgery promises to be expensive... At least for a small of a rescue as we are...

We went ahead today and got Pepi neutered so that he could recover from that while we get ready to do the FHO in a week or so... Normally males just bounce back the same day after being neutered, but maybe because he already has so much pain in his hip joint, the neuter has shown to be painful for him and we've been doing extra cuddling this afternoon and tonight with him... Poor guy!

If he is this sweet now, just imagine how sweet once he will be after all this pain is gone!

Puppies...

The puppymillers and backyard breeders geared up just in time for Christmas like they do every year... Puppies are arriving in the shelters faster than we can find them homes... Every weekend, people are walking out of petshops with little bundles of fur that will show up in the shelters a few months from now when the novelty has worn off and the responsibilities become too great...

We are NOT supporters of giving puppies as Christmas presents and feel it is the WORST time of the year to add a dog to your family... Between the craziness of the holiday season, the stress of trying to get everything done and the impulses that arise at this time of the season, we beg everyone to give SERIOUS consideration to adopting a puppy at this time of the year...

This is a great page to read through while you are considering the prospect of a Christmas puppy - The best present EVER... It has a 28-day countdown to get ready for adding a puppy to your life, home and lifestyle... At TLC we have quite a few young dogs that are no longer puppies, but are potty trained, healthy and homeless... We hope you will consider them also...

Having said all of this, we have six puppies from various litters and ages... All were dumped into our local shelters for various reasons... All are either spayed or neutered, or (will be) before Christmas...

From left to right is Rudy, Annette, Georgia, Frankie and Noel.  Nick is not in this photo... Georgia is a MinPin and not a Chihuahua.    Noel (the female brindle) has already been adopted and not available - Nick and Rudy (short for Rudolph) are Noel's brothers.

But we remind you ---  puppies are a LOT of work and should never be an impulse decision you regret later... And if a puppy is alone without another puppy or dog, you can expect to have many sleepless nights as it cries because it is lonely... It will takes months to potty train these little ones... The first year of any puppy's life is an expensive one if you are providing the proper nutrition... And there is a very large amount of personal time that needs to be invested if your puppy is to be properly socialized and grows into a responsible canine citizen and loved member of your family...

At TLC we do not place our puppies in homes with small children or large dog breeds - they're just too small and is a $3,000+ broken leg waiting to happen... Children should be allowed to be children - to run, holler and play - without worrying about accidentally falling on a small petite puppy...Adoption applications are taken either at adoptions or via fax... Home visits are scheduled and if passed, there is an adoption contract to be signed and an adoption donation (which will be the cheapest part of your investment in a new puppy!  Trust us!)...Chihuahuas live from 15 to 18 years, and this is a long term investment in so many ways...

Introducing Missy...

Missy is one of those forgotten munchkins in the shelter system... Caught as a stray October 27th and weighing only 4 pounds, she was listed as "very hard to handle" and later "too aggressive to handle" by the shelter staff... 

When we saw her at the shelter, Missy was a bit shy but was in with fiver other females who were more dominant than she was... So she hung back rather than confront them to get to the front of the kennel run... We watched her for a bit, and then kept coming back to her kennel run to observe her again...

There are just some Chihuahuas that don't do well in the kennel and shelter system... Maybe they were used to being on someone's lap and cuddling - the shelter environment is a hard one for them to transition over to... Or maybe they were someone's backyard breeder and did not receive enough or proper socialization... Once in the shelter system they tend to go to extremes - either go inwards or become over aggressive in this environment... 

We took a chance and judging upon our past experience, thought Missy's issue was being put in a hostile environment where she did the best she could - she just tried to survive...

Missy also has scarred ear tips and a scar on her nose - two opinions believe it is flystrike... For those not familiar with this condition, it usually comes from squalor or filthy conditions where a dog sits in its own feces and/or isn't bathed properly... This is a common thing with backyard breeders who house their breeders outside in kennel runs... 

Some dogs get annoyed with flies buzzing about or there's a confrontation between dogs that results in an open wound or tear in the ears... It only takes one small open wound for flies to lay their eggs in the flesh... And in the hot summer weather, flies are attracted to feces not cleaned up routinely and promptly... The dogs who have any open wounds are a virtual feasting ground for this kind of situation...

Now that Missy has had a bath, we discovered she's snow white with the exception of the 'Hershey's Kiss' shape laying sideways in tan on her right side, the tan markings around her head and an 'angel's kiss' on her back rear butt... We've already started medication procedures on her ears and around her eyes plus nose... It is already responding to treatment... The scars will remain behind once she has fully healed, but the tips of her ears will remain jagged permanently... Just adds to her character and unique markings in our opinion!

Now as far as her being aggressive?... She doesn't like fast grabs when in a crate, which solidifies our opinion she was a breeder kept outside... 

However, within two days upon her arrival with us, she was wagging her tail and coming forward with interest for a treat... Crated at night with Buddy, Missy has already figured out the routine and when we say, "Let's go to bed" Missy quickly responds... On the third day with us, she handed out her first 'Missy kiss'.... So much for being too hard to handle or aggressive...  We think it was environment and not persona with Missy...

Day two and with two tries, she watched the other dogs and learned the doggie door... She's not a barker and we suspect she's a natural born cuddler just waiting to happen... When she's picked up and hears her name, the tail just never stops wagging... 

Missy is 6.5 pounds and just perfect in weight for her frame... She is about 2.5 years old and has tremendous potential despite being forgotten at the shelter as she stayed below the radar and didn't cause any problems (which might have been a good karma thing so she didn't end up on the kill list)... 

Introducing Buddy!

Buddy has been on the kill list at the local shelters three times in the past month... Buddy is the kind of dog you need to see in person to appreciate his personality and demeanor, but because he has the 'brown dog syndrome' so common in the shelters (i.e. "Just another one of those non-descript brown dogs..."), he kept being passed by with potential adopters...

Buddy just reminds me of a 'good ole boy' not in the derogatory sense that this title might have, but just in the easy doing, mellow and happy-go-lucky-sense... Nothing fazes him... He is VERY content to sit on my husband's lap every night to watch TV with his eyes closed (the dog, not my husband) and now sits patiently in the afternoon for my husband's arrival...

But if you look closely at Buddy beyond the fact "he's a brown Chihuahua,"  you will see some beautiful markings along with a pair of eyes that appear almost human because of their shape and spacing...

While Buddy was probably a bit overweight when he arrived at the shelter at almost ten pounds, he now weighs 7.13 pounds and looks great~!!  He's not barky, friendly towards all, even balanced temperament-wise and would make a great family dog or companion for someone who lives alone and is looking for that tight one-on-one bond.

What a great dog and smart too!  He learned the doggie door in two tries and is house-broken and now crate-trained as well... Besides the vast difference in size and coloring, Buddy is one of the "Lassie-type" dogs that comes along every once in awhile and you just know there was some twisted quirk of fate or bad luck that caused him to up in the shelter system...

Introducing Pepi...

Sometimes a dog's sweet disposition can save their life in our shelter system - such is the case with Pepi... He arrived at one of our local shelters on September 30th... But because of his underweight size and a limp as he held up one of his hind rear legs, he could find no takers who wanted to adopt him...

So sweet, Pepi was pulled off of the kill list three times by a shelter staff member until we were contacted...

A bit of a shabby coat and being underweight is easily corrected by a good and nutritional diet combined with time and TLC... But it will take a lot more to correct what has happened to Pepi than just TLC...

He has either been kicked severely or had a collision with an automobile... His pelvis bone has been fractured in three places and allowed to heal... Being out of kilter, his back leg bone cannot sit correctly in the joint and this causes him pain and discomfort - therefore the limp...

This is his shelter photo...

You can almost see the pain in his eyes as he leans to help support his hind quarters...

Well, we decided it was not Pepi's day to die so we took him into the TLC rescue... He's been to see two different vets now and neither one agrees with the original recommendation to amputate that hind leg... Both recommend a FHO which will take a much longer rehabilitation time than an amputation but once done, the bone-to-bone pain will be gone... At 2-3 years old, Pepi is just too young to lose a leg, but both vets are very confident the quality of his life will be radically improved if he gets this surgery.

I was once again reminded of just how sweet and endearing a gentle dog can be... Yesterday Pepi sat in my lap as we drove to the second consultation, just enjoying the view as the scenery passed by...  These are the times I wonder exactly what is wrong with the human race to allow such terrible things to happen to such gentle and loving creatures... He loves riding in the car and I couldn't help but wonder why he is now in the shape that he is...

Whether he was not on a leash and allowed to accidentally run into the traffic or (God forbid), some heartless person kicked him hard enough to break that pelvis bone, I can't understand either act... When you call his name, Pepi rolls over and presents his belly for a rub... How could any sweet dog like this end up with such a traumatic injury? ::shaking my head here::

Regardless, Pepi is not ready for adoption until he has the surgery, goes through rehabilitation and get healthy again... If he is this sweet when he is in this much pain, I just can't imagine how much sweeter he will become once he can walk and not be in so much discomfort!

Introducing... Walter!

At TLC, we foster a lot of puppies because we have the policy of pulling the hard cases consistently... Puppies always adopt fast, but the hard cases always take time to rehabilitate and/or get healthy again before they can get adopted... And with getting healthy for the hard cases, always comes heavy vet bills... 

Every once in awhile, we come upon a dog in the shelters that we just scratch our head and for the life of us, can not figure out WHY the dog arrived in the shelters to begin with... Or why anyone would allow a family member to get into such poor shape... Such is the case with Walter on both points... 

The shelter thought he was about 10 years old because he arrived thin, dehydrated and in such overall poor general condition... Once we took Walter to our vet, she believes he is half that age, but just sorely neglected for a VERY long time... 

Walter is just the sweetest little munchkin EVER~!!!... He has a wag for everyone he meets and despite it being a 'rat tail' because he's lost all the hair on it (plus on various other spots of his body), he wags his tail all of his heart!

We don't know how his coat is going to eventually turn out, but with good nutrition and medicated baths every two days plus vitamin E and other supplements, it just takes time and TLC to bring him back.

He arrived in the shelter with an open wound underneath his right eye and the shelter folks thought he just didn't like being kenneled, so he rubbed the bars... Turns out, Walter had a cracked back molar down to the root, it developed an abscess and burst through the skin!

He's been in already to get a dental and have that molar (and a few others) removed.  Walter should now be able to gain back some weight... especially that is not painful to eat now that his mouth is straightened out... 

We have yet to hear Walter bark... He's content to sit in your lap and cuddle, or curl up in a doggie bed by your feet... Walter has a stiff gait to his rear legs that is just precious to see!  And because he's missing a canine on the one side, his little tongue hangs out a bit... His Walter kisses are just as precious and sweet too!

We will get Walter healthy and once he gains a bit of weight, he'll be ready for adoption to the right home (no small children or big dog breeds for Walter is only 3.4 pounds and when he gains enough weight, still under 4 pounds).

And in the spirit of the Christmas season, a fellow Chi lover donated $10 for each of her friends to pay for Walter's dental instead of giving gifts: 

Dan S., Elly C., Michael J. D., Randeep B., Cindy C., Ellen M., Eleen V., Matthew K., Lisa A.M., Charlie W., Edward M., Scott John M., Paul M., Debbie S., Rob K., Tiffany O., Michael W., Stacy C., Lisa K., Siraj M., Birdie S., Theresa E., G Koji S., Aj M., and Scott Morgan C.

What a lovely way to share the joy of the holiday season, huh?  Walter's sending each one a Walter kiss which is absolutely priceless!

Charleyboy found his furever home just in time for Christmas!

Just in time for the holidays, Charleyboy has found his new furever home!

Personal note from Linda: As a foster parent, we are always asked, "How can you stand to give them up?" and our standard reply is that if we kept them all, we'd have no foster spots to save the next dog from dying in the shelters tomorrow.  We know that when we adopt a dog today, tomorrow we will go back into the shelters and rescue another one - probably on a kill list whose time is running out.  Although you love all of the fosters as you get them healthy, tend to their medical needs, rehabilitate any bad habits and/or give them new ones, you tend to keep them to somewhat of a distance because if you do allow them to crawl into your heart, it is just too hard to let them go and be adopted.

Charleyboy was one of the few special cases where I needed to be on my constant guard to not get too attached to a foster.  Because he tends to look at you with his wide-eyed attention, I found myself talking to him more like a human than a dog.  And because he had become my shadow, he and I did have a lot of conversations as I always needed to look behind me before I stepped back fast, or if he'd followed me somewhere, make sure I called him when I left.

A few people who were interested in Charleyboy had children or too active of a lifestyle for his best interests --- and his well being was paramount because we humans certainly didn't treat him fairly the first time around!   We attempted to place him with a sweet young lady who had cats, but Charleyboy didn't care for the feline species.  And it is better than a TLC dog comes back to us to find a better furever home than for them to stay in a situation where the new owners' life is turned upside down... just bad karma all the way around.

When the application came in on Charleyboy, I was very encouraged.  We wanted a calm, laid-back home for Charleyboy... He is still very young for a Chihuahua and I could relate to his sight limitations for without my glasses, I can't read now!  I loved the conversation I initially had with Charleyboy's new potential furever parents, and felt very positive when we set up the meet & greet.  Although we had a bit of a hard time finding their home, I stood in the grass with Charleyboy while my husband found a place to park his car.  And in the darkening dusk, I looked around at the lush grass and trees and sent a small prayer Heaven-ward that the people we all were about to meet would be as nice as that spot we were standing in.

It's funny how God answers your prayers when you least expect them, ya know?  Our hearts are still SO heavy from losing our dearly beloved Mr. Sweetie on November 27th... At 16 with doggie dementia, pancreatic issues, major anxiety issues, dual hip surgeries followed by failing back hips and then front legs, it was probably one of the hardest decisions my family has had to make about a dog for years... People just aren't interested in adopting anything less than the 'perfect dog' and the three years we'd had with Mr. Sweetie were ones we will always treasure... My vet called us 'the home of the misfits and unwanteds' but frankly?  Some of these 'misfits and unwanteds' have been some of the best dogs EVER... 

Discovering Charleyboy's new adoptive parents was a spiritual and soul regeneration for me that night... No, Charleyboy is not perfect but he is a sweet and loving kindred soul that (more than most) deserved a second chance at a better hand of cards he'd been dealt in the game of life... He won the jackpot with his new family and now has his very own home just in time for Christmas!  Here he is in his new doggie bed, all wrapped up nice and warm... 

Santa already came for Charleyboy!  Thank-you to whoever was listening to my prayers up there!  I'm sure you are there, Mr. Sweetie.... Thank-you for putting in a good word for Charleyboy!