Coco!
Coco, the eight year old Havanese female, was adopted from a rescue shelter one month ago and is beginning to feel at home here.
Sleeping comfortably. Photo by Will
She is not so afraid of everything now, and can sleep soundly without jumping up to run at the slightest sound. She is eating well, has gained almost a pound, and her coat is beginning to grow.
She is still very afraid of being on a leash and cowers when the slightest restraint is applied, making me think that she had been tied and/or associates a leash with punishment. That is getting better and, once we get started, she enjoys our morning walks more every day. This morning, she was in a very playful mood when we returned home and ran and barked from pure happiness.
She has placed her claim on our house as hers because she barks at the slightest sound from the outside, and the doorbell sends her into a barking frenzy! She is the best alarm system I have ever had!
In her eight years, there have been difficult - and cruel - times, but she is already mending and that gives me peace.
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Wonderful. You give me peace Will. Thank you.
Thank you, Ian. Watching that little bundle relax in a deep sleep has a magical, restorative effect on me, too. I cannot understand being cruel to such a small creature that asks only to be safe. Her first burst of playing this morning was wonderful!
I have had bully-breed dogs for so long (none of which have ever made sounds other than whimpers) that I have forgotten that dogs actually bark.
Oh, barking is her specialty when she gets excited, I have discovered! Not a peep from her for two weeks and then she got comfortable enough to be herself! An outside sound or playful excitement generates barks.
On the other side, Mike the Dog has been with me for almost 12 years and I have heard him bark one time. Just one "BARK!" and that was it.
Aww! She's like my little Princess, one of my shih tzu dogs that I adopted because her former owner moved into another house that don't allow pets.
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I really hate it when people just give a dog up because it no longer fits into their plans. Princess was attached to her owners even if they were not attached to her. The owners understood why they were giving Princess up, but she could not, and that must have been heartbreaking for her. I'm glad you have her in a safe place now.
Same sentiments here. That's why I adopted Princess :-) She's a very sweet dog.
Thank you!
howdy there @willymac! great photo of that cute little girl. So wonderful of you guys to take her in, it's given her a new lease on life!
Hey, JohnBoy! Yep, her attitude towards life and her appetite are both better and she doesn't slink around as if trying to avoid being seen now, so it's a good sign. It is obvious she is accustomed to being afraid of punishment and that's slowly changing, too. How could anyone not feel a need to help a little furry, nine-pound creature like that? (apparently a lot, because they were in foster care at various places for two years.)
howdy @willymac! well sir, I understand that people have too much on teir plate and so forth but I am really surprised that it took that long to find a home for her because she is so cute!
Hey, Mr. Texan! No, I don't understand, either. Maybe because she acted like she was terrified by strangers and did not want to be petted. Plus the fact that she looks a bit odd from the front because her legs bow out up at her hips...like maybe they were broken sometime in her past. All that melted my heart when I met her. She was scared of me when we left the rescue center but before I got home two hours later, she was snuggling close for safety. It must have been hard for her to be taken from her home and tossed into a kennel situation when her female owner died suddenly. We're going to be just fine now!
yes sir, it's going to be a blessing for both of you!
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Here comes the coco again, as beautiful and innocent as it gets <3
Coco's sudden playful mood in the morning was so wonderful to see I had to share a little of her story. It's not easy to make me laugh, but I was having as much fun watching as she was running, barking, and chasing a stuffed toy. Moments like that are the reasons we love dogs.
That's lovely, Its good to see you happy just because your pet is enjoying. Shows how good of a heart you have :)
Lovely to read you gave coco a place to heal. She looks lovable and I’m glad she’s on the mend too.
She is getting more affectionate by the day. This morning, she licked my nose when I picked her up, so she must have decided I'm okay so far. I think she is going to adjust...given time.
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Hey, @willymac! Nice to hear Coco is getting the hang of things. It is definitely sad to hear about the abuse some of these pets take, considering that most of the time, the owner made a choice to get the pet in the first place, only to inflict some kind of harm. Doesn't make much sense to me, and I'm not a pet owner.
Hopefully, she will be happy and healthy for a long time.
That about Mike in your comment is pretty amazing. One bark in 12 years. Sounds like it was important, though, whatever the reason he did it.
Coco and her sister, Bella, love women and run to them; men, not so much and Coco cowers when a male approaches. My guess is that their female owner had a friend who did not like small dogs. Whatever the cause, it was real and painful, especially for Coco.
Yeah, strange about Mike. I was home alone, wife out of town, and getting ready for bed. I sat down to take my shoes off and Mike stood up, turned around and faced the sliding door to the deck and without preamble issued one very manly
WOOF!
That was it. I was covered with goose bumps and wide awake after that. We had always joked that he would show a burglar where the family jewels were hidden and hold the door for him just to be nice. The bark was so out of character for him. I went out, adequately armed, but nothing at all was amiss. Of course I wondered all night what I had missed.
Yeah. Scared whatever it was right off with that manly woof! Now, that's a bark. Of course, giving you goosebumps probably wasn't the best of things, unless they were positive goosebumps. As in, Mike, you're the man. Or, the manly dog. Something like that. :)
There's a Marvel character this is reminding me of called Black Bolt. His super powers are sonic, so if he speaks, depending on how loud and how long, he devastate cities. Even a whisper can do major damage to things and people around him. Needless to say, he keeps quiet a lot.
Also, it's reminding of a man I know whose family said he didn't say much. But when he did, they listened, because it must be important.
One of those would seem to apply here. :)
The goosebumps came from the weirdness of Mike finally saying something for the first time and doing it in such an authoritative voice. As in the man who seldom spoke, it got my full, adrenaline attention and that's what had me out in the dark, armed to the teeth and in full defense mode.
I found nothing but was convinced it was an alien who beamed up as soon as it was detected. There's no point in letting a decent warning bark go to waste!