TLC - Missy

'Dog days' and afternoon naps are the best!

2010-03-30T07:55:00.001-07:00

New coat growing in

2010-03-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

Most of Missy's coat has now come in around the ragged edges of her ears from the flystrike... Oddly enough, it has all come in white and really is cute, adding greatly to her look... In fact, if you look at her original photos, you can see just how much of her ears had been eaten away when we saved her~!!!

People keep passing Missy by at adoptions, probably because when they ask, we always say we think she's probably a JackChi (Jack Russell - Chihuahua mix)... While we believe in honesty with folks, the rep of the Jack is a high energy and sometimes aggressive dog that might be scaring some people away from adopting Missy...

She would make a great companion for a senior citizen who is not highly active, doing 5 mile jogs every day... Or a working couple without children because a daily walk and lots of loving is about all she needs... She could be a solo dog or companion to another dog...

When we took this picture, she had fallen asleep on the doggie step, so we couldn't resist snapping a photo of that new hair that has grown in along the top of the ears... Why she fell asleep on the doggie step is beyond us, but it was too cute to pass up!

Update on Missy........

2010-01-25T10:33:00.001-08:00

Missy is doing much better now on the antibotics and medicated baths... The hair is starting to return around her snout and the tips of her ears, but we doubt seriously if the scar on her nose will ever grow hair again... That's OK - it adds character to her face!

While Missy is very loving with her foster family, she is a 'slow warmer' as they call it, a pretty common trait for the cross-breeding of the Jack/Chis with such distinct different personalities...

Although she's not high energy like most Jack Russells are, she is certainly always on alert and playful... Highly intelligent and 'watchers of life' as they refer to Jacks, Missy is small like a Chi and much lower to the ground than a Jack is (and she doesn't have the 'Jack bounce' either)...

Regardless of being a 'slow warmer', Missy's furever family (or person) will come along eventually... And she didn't have to die in a local shelter in the meantime!

Update on Missy...

2009-12-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

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!

Introducing Missy!

2009-12-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

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)...