meanwhile

Charmin was adopted today!  Co-workers of mine had taken an interest in her almost as soon as I posted the photos to facebook, and they came and visited on Wednesday.  They applied to adopt her that evening, and today (Saturday) she went to her new home.  I miss her calm energy already, but the house is quieter now that she and Truman aren't constantly romping and playing on the floor.  Truman is, of course, bored out of his mind. 

Anticipating this earlier today, I bought him the most amazing dog bone ever, which he loved very much.  But the warning says it is "not to be ingested all in one sitting," and he definitely ingested a quarter of it already, so I had to take it away, for the evening, and now he is bored and sad.  Earlier, he went and sat in the dark on the floor of the room where we fed Charmin and where we confined her when she first arrived.  We went in there, sat on the floor, and just started barking.  He doesn't usually bark unless he can't get to something he wants, or it's time to feed him.  He had already eaten. I think he just wanted his friend back.

discovering herself

Sometimes it's a metaphor, but in this case, I mean it pretty literally.  Charmin appears to have discovered her reflection in our full length floor mirror for the first time today.  At first, she seemed to think it was a door-- she kept trying to walk into it, head-butting her own reflection.  The mirror has some lovely nose-prints now.

The mirror is upstairs, meaning she also discovered how to go up the stairs in our house.  However, she has yet to discover how to come down them.  I had to carry her back downstairs twice, which she was a good sport about.

I started reading about Amish puppy mills yesterday, which is where Charmin came from.  Truman's mother also was, sadly, a puppy mill dog from Arkansas.  Apparently, to keep the massive groups of dogs from barking too loudly, they have a method of "de-barking" the dogs, which means hammering a metal pipe down the dog's throats to destroy the vocal chords.  I respect cultural differences and all, and I get that not everyone views dogs as friends the way I do, which is fine.  For some people it seems acceptable to treat them as livestock.  Unfortunately, we treat livestock pretty horrendously.  If they were treated like the animals on my great grandparents' farm, I could deal with it.  But when they don't get medical attention for oozing sores and exposed bones and eyes falling out of sockets, and when they get carried around by the leg because the farmer doesn't really want to touch them, I think that goes beyond treating them like animals.

Charmin is awesome

You would not believe what an awesome, sweet dog this is.  I'm a little spoiled by extremely friendly, attached, cuddly little dogs, so I can't say I totally fell in love with Charmin's laid back manner immediately.  But after a weekend with her, I am pretty amazed at the way this sweet little girl rolls with whatever changes come her way, and how easily she has adapted to our dogs and our home.  She is so low-key, but also interested and curious.  She likes to follow me from room to room, but not in a clingy way.  She's just so relaxed.  When faced with new experiences, like stairs, she is a little apprehensive, yet open-minded and willing to give it a try with some encouragement.  And she has made very fast, good friends with Harriet and Truman.

Charmin

This is Charmin, our new foster dog guest.  She is a Shar Pei mix (she looks to me like a mix between a Shar Pei and a Shiba Inu), who was rescued from a puppy mill.  She is 2 or 3 years old, and was rescued by an organization called Luv4K9s.  As I understand it, she has only been out of the puppy mill for a month or two, and considering this, she is adjusting beautifully!  She's a little distant and uncertain of people reaching for her, but she will take treats from my hand and will let me pet her if we don't startle her.  She is doing very well in the house-- she's calm and laid back, but social with the other dogs.  She loves chewing on toys, and quickly discovered the dog toy basket in the living room.

She is of course available for adoption-- already fixed and up-to-date on shots.  For more information about Luv4K9s or how to adopt Charmin, visit their website.