November 2008 Small Dog of the Month

For those of you who have met Sugar you know I had to send in her story. Sugar is a sixteen year old girl who is a hit whereever she goes. Sugar came to the shelter after being impounded by a humane Officer. She was found living in a small pen with three other younger dogs. All the dogs were really underweight and Sugar had a bad skin condition that had made most of her hair fall out. Her left eye had suffered from such a prolonged eye infection that it was dried up and useless. Turns out that Sugar moved with her owner from Mississippi where she had lived most of her life, chained behind a trailer home with 27 other dogs.

At the shelter, her friends gained weight and were quickly adopted but no one looked at Sugar. She seemed so old that I decided to take her home and let her live out the short time she had left. Once at home Sugar learned quickly how to become spoiled. Every time I would open the door for her to come inside, she would look at me like she couldn't believe she was being allowed inside and would then bolt at full speed past me before I could change my mind. She had surgery to have her eye removed and was so miserable with her e-collar on that I carried her everywhere for about two weeks. After that there was no going back. Sugar was spoiled rotten. She had mammary tumors when she was spayed and has huge scars running up her underside. She eventually had to have almost all her teeth removed as well.

But she filled out, her haircoat grew back, and she gained a lot of energy and spunk. I nicknamed her "ancient pistol" after a cantankerous old soldier in Shakespeare's Henry the 5th. Now 5 years later this "hospice" case dog I took home is still going strong. She is determined to make the best of her later years to make up for her earlier life. She is full of life and love and has been a real treasure and joy to have in my life.

~ Adam