Meet Callie, My MVP (Most Valued Pet)

[HillWilliam]

Meet Callie, my "middle fur-daughter". Callie came to us about two years ago through WXII-12's Pet of the Week. I've cross-posted on a few places about her through the week, but let me tell you a little bit more about her today. There are a couple of links to click below and I'm asking for your clicks, and I'd like to explain why.


Callie was presented as being three years old at the time, but when we got her home and looked at her, it was clear she was just a puppy. Her teeth hadn't really come in yet and her build was slight. But she was already street-wise and far older "inside" than any youngun ever needed to be. She was dreadfully undernourished and you could tell that had been the case probably all of her life. Her coat was so thin you could see skin through it. The skin was gray and her poor eyes were sunken in. She had no undercoat at all.

She wasn't socialized. She was pretty wild and had no manners. It was easy to tell she had been tied out and left alone all of her life. You couldn't touch her collar at all. It took two months to get her confidence enough to be able to take the nasty thing off of her. Apparently, whoever had her before had used her collar as a hand-hold to beat her. You couldn't undress around her -- if you took your belt off to put your pants in the laundry, she'd have a panic attack and hide. It took a lot of comforting to reassure her that in this house, humans do not attack canines or one another. This is a home where its inhabitants respect, love, comfort, and take up for one another.

Love is a powerful thing. A kind word, a kind act extended costs nothing, really, and it goes so very, very far. There are so many beings in this world, human and animal alike, who are so hungry and desperate for just such a single kindness.

I'm posting this today because, yes, I'm asking for something. A couple of clicks from you.

Callie and I live in a rural county. It used to be one of the richest in the nation; now it ranks as one of the poorest. It has remote beauty, but for a lot of animals, that is its downfall and their peril. People come out here to abandon their unwanted pets in the false notion that domestic animals somehow know how to survive in the wild.

Fact: they don't.

Put yourself in their place for just a moment. All your life you've had a warm bed, food, hands to pet you. Then you got old. Your mommy or daddy lost their job. Whatever it was, Something Bad happened and you have no way of comprehending. It wasn't your fault, but you're going to suffer for it. You're the one who will be charmed with "let's go ride!" and when you get to "go ride" you will go to a wild, lonely place you'd never been before. The car door opens and you are set out and the only family you'd ever known drives off and leaves you there.

It's cold. You're starving. You're totally alone for the first time in your life. You have no idea what to do or what you did to make them so mad at you. You are totally unprepared for what to do now.

That's what happens in our county day after day. Our shelter is overwhelmed, understaffed, and has little to no budget to deal with an almost monumental problem. Callie and I would like to help. We've entered a contest where the grand prize goes directly to the charity of our choice. We choose to help the Animal Protection Society of Caswell County. That is, if we can.

But we need your click here to do it and we would ask you to pass the link to your friends to vote for her, too. This is the most important link to click because it has the potential to do the most good.

Callie got lucky. I am so very blessed to have such a loving, giving, loyal creature come into my life. With a little help, more humans and four-leggers might get that same blessing, too.

The second click I'm asking for is just for fun. There is a prize, yes, but lordy, we've never won anything in our lives. But I think she's pretty and she's worked so hard to become a lady. She deserves a little press! Here's the second link. Thanks for your clicks.

[demtenjeep]

1. What a beautiful dog

Happy to click for you!

[texanwitch]

2. Done.

Beautiful dog.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Voted for your spectacular dog!

What a beautiful dog and a wonderful rescue story. Thank you so much for sharing it, and her, with us... :loveya:

My pups are rescue, too. I adopt senior dogs... Callie was so very fortunate to find you and it's obvious that you feel the same about her... O8)

[HillWilliam]

8. Bless you for your work!!

Seniors get the least attention in rescues and shelters. They usually come with old-age health problems, have long-standing habits, and they are what they are. They have a hard time adapting to new homes and situations. It takes a very, very special person to adopt and care for elderdogs. Spirit love you for that. I do. O8) :hug:

As for Callie, we feel we're the lucky ones to have been given such a gift. Once she got over the worst of her trauma, she became quite a lady. She will probably never completely recover (her eyes will never be right) but the love she now exudes is something powerful.

There's a reason my sig-line has long-long been what it is :)

[Rhiannon12866]

10. Wow. Thank you so much for your kind reply.

I adopt the senior dogs because I feel that they're the ones who need me, and I've never been disappointed. Callie's adoption story reminded me of my Barney. He was on the Albany, NY, ABC affiliate "Pet Connection." The chief meteorologist there is a huge advocate for animals. "Buster's Law," imposing more serious punishments for animal abuse, was signed into law by the governor on Steve's "Pet Connection" segment. :-)

Barney was a 10-11 year old cocker spaniel who had been a stud dog at a commercial kennel, had never lived with people and was not housebroken, needed a "special home." The dog I grew up with was also a blond cocker and as soon as I saw him and heard his story, I knew that he was the right dog for me. I called before the segment was even over and met Barney and brought him home the very next day. :loveya:

I thought that there might be issues we'd have to work through, but there weren't. He was perfect from day one, beautiful dog, perfect temperament. I had Barney for eight wonderful years. I still keep in touch with Steve, the weather guy, since he cared a lot about what happened to Barney, and he's become a friend. I refer to Barney as "the dog of my heart." I miss him still. ;(

The pup in my sig line is my little Jack, was a pet shop rescue with three other dogs with some health problems, and he was my exception, adopted him at five months since he needed a home. He's nearly four now and is a great little guy, but when he was a puppy I often said that now I knew why I adopted older dogs... LOL. :D

Thank you for your advocacy and your kindness. I passed your post on to some fellow animal lovers so they can vote too. And love to your beautiful girl. I love your sig line and, if you notice mine, I've had that one since the beginning... :hi:

Rhiannon :hug:

[HillWilliam]

12. I was in awwww of Jack's eyes

but now, yes, I do see your sigline. Great minds! I hadn't noticed it when I made my post below earlier this morning, but it's a tenet I firmly believe.

We've been so blessed by our fur-kids. Our eldest is HillbillyBob's aide-dog, Dora. We got her as a 6-week-old pup. She was of a litter that was "accident" that a breeder was going to destroy because the mother was a springer spaniel and and the father was a blue heeler. (Don't get me started about irresponsible breeders.) Dora was so awfully sick when we got her and needed round-the-clock attention. We would have taken more, but we were in pretty dire straits ourselves. But Dora soon started volunteering to alert for Rob's seizures well in advance. I began training her for routine aide-dog tasks and she took to it like a duck to water. She's got the cattledog brains and the spaniel sweetness. They're inseparable. If there's anyone on earth he loves more than me, it's her. Just as it should be. Her 8th birthday (and our 14th anniversary) was Friday.

When my buddy Sadie crossed the Rainbow Bridge, I thought I would never recover. I'd never heard a dog sob real sobs before, but Sadie was the only mama Dora had ever known. The night when we went to donate Sadie's food to the Guilford shelter, I discovered our next-younger, Ashley-Marie in a cage with four dingoes (real ones) who had her backed into one corner and were continually biting and picking on such a gentle soul. I promised her then and there I'd get her out of that because, being a gay man, I know exactly what it feels like to be backed into a corner and assaulted by a group, having no one who'll take up for you. It was quite an adventure to get her liberated, and it took some doing (shelter staff will prevaricate!), but she's my heart-buddy, sent by Providence to heal all our hearts when we needed her and she needed us. What a beautiful, loving, graceful lady she has grown up to be.

Then came Callie who was by far the neediest. I'll give a h/t here to Ashley for being a wonderful big sister. Yeah, and credit to Dora for not taking crap of a very ill-behaved juvenile delinquent LOL Dora has had gentle discipline all her life and has only known the life of a service dog-slash-princess. She won't tolerate ill manners. A nip on the nose (no more than that) got the point across. Cattledog teeth are sharp! and Dora never raised her voice or broke a sweat. They're buddies today.

Last-but-not-least is Emmaline. I swore we had enough dogs. Then a neighbor's weimaraner littered unexpectedly, despite best efforts of her owner to keep her isolated and within view. I know herding dogs, have some biases against hunting dogs, and really couldn't take on another. Long story short, Emmy has turned out whip-smart, very communicative, and is the one we've been waiting for who is willing and capable to take Dora's place when (soon) she'll retire. Spirit knows better than we do what we need.

And btw, if you provided the shiny new heart, thank you very much. If it wasn't you, thanks to whoever did and thanks to you for the conversation!

[Rhiannon12866]

22. OMG! What beautiful stories!

Your beloved girls were certainly blessed when they found you! :loveya:

All of my guys have similar sad stories, and I also tried to give them happy endings. And I know how devastating it is to lose one of them, which has happened to me several times, since I adopt the older ones. Each and every time, I tell myself that I can never do this again, but I have, because they seem to find me. :-)

Jack's a Brussels Griffon, a pretty unusual breed. He found me because my other dog, Meneken, was also a Brussels Griffon. After I lost Barney, I thought that my other cocker, Sheena, was lonely and missed him, So I called about another blond cocker, an eight-year-old male, that was advertised in the paper. That dog had been placed, but his foster mom, a wonderful person who has become my dear friend, told me of another little dog that was really in trouble. ;(

That was Meneken, my eight-pound wonder, a nine-year-old Brussels Griffon who became homeless when his elderly owner died. He bonded with me from the minute I picked him up, and he blew mew away by bonding immediately with Sheena, was sleeping next to her on her bed the same night I brought him home. He was my baby, took him everywhere with me. He expected it and must have been used to it, he was always so good. :-)

I found Sheena when my vet was away and I had to go to another animal hospital to find Barney's prescription food. When the staff there learned that I had a cocker, they asked if I wanted another one. Of course I said "no," since I'd recently lost Samantha, a sweet tiny cocker who had been given up at age eight because she was prone to seizures. *sigh* But I agreed to meet Sheena, eight at the time, and she broke my heart. Her owner had died and the estate was paying to board her there for a month. She was then on week three... Apparently, her owner had boarded her there when she went on vacation and the poor dog had no idea that no one was coming to get her... ;(

That explains part of Meneken and Sheena's bond, becoming homeless because their owners had died. The bizarre thing was that I later learned that I had known Sheena's owner. She had been a nurse in the oncology unit at the hospital when my Dad was there! And a vet tech who used to work for my vet was helping to foster Jack, so knew Meneken, and contacted me about Jack, another Brussels Griffon. :D

I have more stories, but you know how it is... As for Jack's eyes, another DUer saw that they were kind of glowing in my sig pic, so she fixed them for me. Jack is a real sweetie, a real cuddler... :loveya:

And, yes, that heart did come from me. I had one left to give and after I read your story about Callie, I knew where it belonged... Thank you for sharing your heartwarming stories with me and DU. :yourock:

Rhiannon :hug:

Meneken and Sheena, 2002


Jack and Meneken, 2007

[Zoigal]

4. Borzoi? She certainly has a lot their features.

Lovely dog...Thank you for having the patience to get her through her shyness, etc...z

[HillWilliam]

6. Collie and Maremma

She's got the collie head and ears, but maremma coat, body, and attitude :D When she first arrived, I thought maybe kuvasz, but I know a couple of the breeders who would know the whereabouts of every eligible dam in the area. There are a few farms around with sheep, ergo herding dogs. I can see how an "acca-dent" may have happened and why she may have been considered "unworthy". It's a shame; she's got great instincts. Those old genes are powerful.

I have some experience with big-white dogs, kuvaszok and Polish tatra sheepdogs. They have attitude! They're also thinkers and if allowed to bloom they can become loving and loyal. But, yeah, it REALLY takes a lot of patience LOL I've counted to 100 in every language I know under my breath more than a few times!

Her real break came the first time she got to go to the tobacco store in Danville. We're friends with the manager and one of the clerks. The clerk had her young daughters there one day (maybe 6 and 8) who just cooed over Callie, led her around the store on her lead, and petted her gently. That's the first time Callie really realized that she was a good girl and she really was pretty and valued. She came home a little in awe of herself. My partner, DUer HillbillyBob called her "the Barbie-doll of dogs" for the way all three little girls became enrapt with one another.

It was a sight to charm any heart. That's what we'd been hoping for.

[tango-tee]

5. She is a beauty!

Wishing you many more happy years together!

:pals:

[HillWilliam]

7. We really appreciate the clicks

I was awfully shy about cross-posting on DU. I have a thing against blog-whoring, always have. A few DUer's are also friends on Facebook and one angel suggesting I might go ahead and post in pets and the lounge.

We're hoping Callie's good luck will "pay forward". There's a real problem out here in the country. We've got a big place and we've taken on four fur-kids to give a forever home. That's as many as we can handle. The shelter is worse than overwhelmed. They have a no-kill policy here but almost reliably they have to shift animals to shelters that don't have no-kill policies because of the overcrowding.

It's not like people are beating Caswell APS's doors down to adopt. Folks here aren't making it at all. HillbillyBob and I comprise one of the luckiest families and we're we're paycheck to (almost) paycheck. What I like about the Bissell competition is that the prize goes directly to the charity of choice.

I've seen recessions in my life before. It's always the animals who suffer first. They get given up or just put out to wander. Most don't live. The elders aren't adopted. The wanderers either don't survive or they're picked up and summarily destroyed. Too many people don't spay or neuter, so the few who do survive litter and add to feral-pack problems.

It's a shame how heartless a society we reflect ourselves to be. As much as we'd like to wave a flag and yell "USA Number One", the reality is a society will be judged by how it treats its most defenseless: the young, the old, the sick, and its animal companions.

This is why I really respect my DU fellows. We may scrap among ourselves, but when it gets tough we do the right thing.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. Tweaking for Callie

She deserves to win...

[HillWilliam]

13. Thanks, Goddess!

Callie will have her chances. Right now I'm really concerned with the fur-kids in Caswell APS and the ones I see wandering about in the gamelands. I know how they wound up there and that breaks my heart. I'd rather chop off an arm before I'd abandon a fur-kid. People can be so heartless.

I've been homeless before, slept in my truck with two dogs. Damnsure THEY ate before I did. Always. I promised them I'd take care of them because they'd never be able to. Even though they may have never understood my words, they trusted my heart and my promise.

I don't have any use for religion. But it's the love of a dog that gives me an understanding of faith.

Have you ever delved into my notes on FB and read my short essay, "Everything I Know about Love, I Learned from a Little Dog"? Every word of it came from the first two I was ever allowed to keep. They really did teach me what love is.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. I haven't, but I'll check it out!

We had to put our dear Wolfgang to sleep right before Christmas. It's not the same house without him. I'd love to adopt another, but we need to fix our fence from damage the snowstorm did before we can; and we've got to be able to get to the fence...Too much snow right now!

[HillWilliam]

27. I've requoted the piece here

for Brooklyn Liberal above.

Our kids always leave such an almighty hole when they leave. One of the hardest things about adopting them is knowing we'll outlive them. The only consolation is knowing that they'll be the first to give us happy kisses when we cross The Bridge.

:hug:

[hobbit709]

11. What a pretty dog.

[david13]

14. Callie? I certainly thought collie when I saw that. Yes, dogs are nice,

when there are no cats available. And collies are nice, I like the shelties, basically a miniature collie.
Well, I hope your dog takes you out twice a day for exercise. A walk in the morning and a walk in the evening.
dc

[HillWilliam]

17. We've got almost 9 acres

nearly 2 fenced in around the house just for dogs. The veggie gardens are inside that for them to defend against bunnies and squirrels and they take their "jobs" ever so seriously :) Oh, yes, there's time for frisbee and ball and chase and all the joys of being together and just being dogs. I can't imagine why people would have dogs if they just stake them out in the yard and never see them. Ours live inside and go out to play -- at the cost of regular grooming.

Callie's the worst about getting in the shower, but she LOVES the blow-dryer. She's the most girly-girl of all when it comes to getting fussed-over and lavishing in the attention. The rest of them are tomboys outside but pretty good about getting bathed. They have their own beds in the bedroom, but they take turns in the bed. I have a rotten back and at least one of them is sweetly taking a turn warming feet or cuddling my degenerative disks.

Spring through fall, Ashley-Marie likes to trot alongside the mini-tractor or check on me while I'm running the tiller in the garden (I've got a 60x90 plot in back and a 50x20 plot in front). We keep each other young :)

It would be nice to have a kitty or two, but with 4 dogs that's out of the question. These kids are great mousers, though! Within a year they had the property pretty well cleaned out. The blackberry field is now vole and mole free!

[david13]

19. Wow, sounds rather nice. dc

[HillWilliam]

20. An incredible piece of luck

a few years ago we were homeless and pretty desperate. My beloved almost died in one of the coldest winters we ever experienced. He couldn't get healthcare he desperately needed. We lost a dear animal companion to a sudden seizure disorder. It was the worst grief we thought we'd ever bear all at once.

Then I lucked into a job. It isn't much but it began to pay the bills. It took years, but we got on our feet again and found a foreclosed house that had been abandoned. I'd never touched my VA, so it was time to put some roots down.

Some folks say that gay couples can't last. This Friday the 12th, we celebrated 14 years together. We've been through it all together. I guess Gaia is blessing us for the hells we've been through; illness, prior abusive relationships, homelessness, you name it.

We've got peace way out here in the country. No cable, no DSL, no city conveniences, but it's beautiful. It's a lot of work putting a green micro-farm together, but we've got each other, four really good dogs, some arable land, a decent house filled with lots of love. The Taj Mahal it ain't, but it's home. We're safe. It's time to put something back into the world.

Callie's way behind the leader in votes, but there's a few days left until the vote closes for this round. It could happen. It'd be cool for our good fortune to be a turn of good luck for a county that really, really could use the help.

We greatly appreciate all the DUer's and our FB friends pitching in to help.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. She is a lovely, lovely girl..and so lucky to have been found by you.

I am sure she shows her gratitude every day, unconditionally, as dogs have a tendency to do.

I went to the site and voted.

Thanks for giving me the chance to help.

[HillWilliam]

18. Thanks, BL

We're all giving it a shot!

I wrote some thoughts down several years ago when my dearest companion of twelve years, Sadie, passed, not long after her buddy, Ashley-Marie (the elder), also crossed the Rainbow Bridge. How lucky was I, to share a goodly portion of my life with someone who gave such unconditional, forgiving love. If there is Someone/Something Greater, surely that Goodness is reflected in these. I'll repost that here because it warms me every time I re-read it. It came directly from the heart to the keyboard.

Everything I Know about Love, I Learned from a Little Dog

Dedicated to Sadie-Lynn and Ashley-Marie I
Now waiting for me just across The Rainbow Bridge

Love is loyal. No matter how many times the ball is thrown, I’ll always come back; with or without it.

Love listens intently, even if the listener doesn’t understand every word. Trust the heart to translate.

Hands are for petting and saying “I’m here, still loving you.”

Love speaks with a completely honest heart and from the best motives.

Wet kisses and warm snuggles always lighten the saddest heart.

No one needs to pray or cry alone if your best buddy is close.

Take some time to chase butterflies, even if you don’t catch any. The pleasure is in doing something a little silly and a lot of fun together.

Ice cream tastes better when shared. One bowl, two spoons, please!

Some say it best by saying nothing at all. One loving “lean” is worth a mouthful of “I love you’s”. Humans squeeze hands — it’s the same thing.

Being a willing listener is likely to get you hugged.

Love is for always. If someone has ever loved you, you will always have that moment with you.

The one who waits patiently for you to arrive deserves lots of kisses. Kisses are easy to make and there are always more to give away.

Someone misses you every time they don’t see you, even if you’re just in the next room.

Joyous greetings are always in order when your love returns.

Petting the fur-kid does just as much good for the human doing the petting.

Saturday afternoon naps with your best friend refresh the body and restore the soul.

In the arms of one who loves you is the safest place in the world.

Happy sighs say it all. Puppysize say even more.

[BrklynLiberal]

21. That is really so touching. A truly wonderful tribute to your beloved furbaby.

Definitely worthy of being published

[HillWilliam]

23. I've got it in a couple of places

Originally I had it on my wedding site, but I'm reconstructing that (I'm liking glFusion!). I've got a copy here and somewhere around in here. When I get done reconstructing my web sites on my workstation at home, I'll bring the server to work and put my home site, genealogy site, and wedding site back up where they belong. My old server got zapped by lightening last year, so it's been a slow slog getting things put back together.

Y'know how it is... hand-to-mouth, soon fed :)

[BrklynLiberal]

24. When you get your home site back up , PM me. I would love to see it.

:thumbsup: :hi:

[HillWilliam]

25. Will do

Got some interesting green micro-farming stuff going on; kiwi-fruit, blackberries, odd fruit trees you don't usually see in NC. The olives should start bearing in about 5 years. The place was kind of a wreck when we came in, long way to go, but it's come a long way. It's fun documenting as we go.

[Demoiselle]

16. Sweet doggie.

I voted at the second link. The first link keeps giving me an error message from "Bissell."
I'll keep trying.

[Rhiannon12866]

28. Kicking for Callie! (and HillWilliam, too...) :-)

:kick: