Dogs I have known 3: Corrie
Chihuahua saves boy from rattlesnake:
I used to think that the only small dogs worth having were terriers. My first dog as a kid was a little mongrel terrier and every terrier I ever knew was brave and loyal but I kind of looked down my nose at all other small dogs. In my mind they were yappy little "rats on strings" - until I adopted my first chihuahua.
About 11 years ago I had two dogs: Saffie, a border collie (who died last month at the age of 14) and Rosie, a little black and tan terrier. One day while walking my dogs in the park, I met a woman, Mary, who rescued dogs. We hit it off and I gave her my phone number.
One day Mary called and asked if I would help her out. A 6 month old female chihuahua had been brought into the pound. It had been found on the streets badly beaten up and had a broken jaw. The pound had deemed it "vicious" and unadoptable and were about to kill it. Mary had taken the pup home but, with dozens of other rescued dogs to care for, she had no time to nurse the chihuahua back to health and she feared for it's safety among her larger dogs. She asked me if I would give it a home. Without even seeing the dog, I said yes. About an hour later, Mary arrived with the "rat on a string" and handed it to me. The pup was so small it was just a handful of fluff. She immediately snuggled into me knowing that she was home at last. I named her Corrie.
It soon became obvious why the pound had decided that Corrie was "vicious." She wasn't vicious for the sake of being vicious but she was brave and fearless. The first day that I took her to the park with the other dogs, Saffie caught a gopher and dropped it when it struggled. Corrie immediately pounced on it and swallowed the gopher head-first. Now Corrie was not much bigger than the gopher, and while it was funny to see it, I worried that she would choke so I tried pulling the gopher out. Corrie refused to let go. It was quite a struggle to dislodge that gopher.
Corrie soon asserted her dominance over the other dogs and is still "the boss" to this day. She cured me of my prejudice against "rats on a string" and, over the next few years, I adopted two more chihuahuas from Mary. Back in their homeland, Mexico, chihuahuas are called "lion-hearted dogs." In the wild, they hunt in packs and kill sheep.
Below: Corrie at the ripe old age of nearly 12. She has mellowed out and no longer swallows whole gophers - she let's the younger dogs do the dirty work nowadays.
For other dogs that I have known see Part one - Chummy and Part two - Punchy.
Dog takes bites meant for 1-year-old, survives to prance with pride.
MASONVILLE, Colo. - Zoey is a Chihuahua, but when a rattlesnake lunged at her owners’ 1-year-old grandson, she was a real bulldog.
Booker West was splashing his hands in a birdbath in his grandparents’ northern Colorado back yard when the snake slithered up to the toddler, rattled and struck. Five-pound Zoey jumped in the way and took the bites.
“She got in between Booker and the snake, and that’s when I heard her yipe,” Monty Long, the boy’s grandfather, said Thursday.
The dog required treatment and for a time it appeared she might not survive. Now she prances about.
“These little bitty dogs, they just don’t really get credit,” Booker’s grandma Denise Long told the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald.
I used to think that the only small dogs worth having were terriers. My first dog as a kid was a little mongrel terrier and every terrier I ever knew was brave and loyal but I kind of looked down my nose at all other small dogs. In my mind they were yappy little "rats on strings" - until I adopted my first chihuahua.
About 11 years ago I had two dogs: Saffie, a border collie (who died last month at the age of 14) and Rosie, a little black and tan terrier. One day while walking my dogs in the park, I met a woman, Mary, who rescued dogs. We hit it off and I gave her my phone number.
One day Mary called and asked if I would help her out. A 6 month old female chihuahua had been brought into the pound. It had been found on the streets badly beaten up and had a broken jaw. The pound had deemed it "vicious" and unadoptable and were about to kill it. Mary had taken the pup home but, with dozens of other rescued dogs to care for, she had no time to nurse the chihuahua back to health and she feared for it's safety among her larger dogs. She asked me if I would give it a home. Without even seeing the dog, I said yes. About an hour later, Mary arrived with the "rat on a string" and handed it to me. The pup was so small it was just a handful of fluff. She immediately snuggled into me knowing that she was home at last. I named her Corrie.
It soon became obvious why the pound had decided that Corrie was "vicious." She wasn't vicious for the sake of being vicious but she was brave and fearless. The first day that I took her to the park with the other dogs, Saffie caught a gopher and dropped it when it struggled. Corrie immediately pounced on it and swallowed the gopher head-first. Now Corrie was not much bigger than the gopher, and while it was funny to see it, I worried that she would choke so I tried pulling the gopher out. Corrie refused to let go. It was quite a struggle to dislodge that gopher.
Corrie soon asserted her dominance over the other dogs and is still "the boss" to this day. She cured me of my prejudice against "rats on a string" and, over the next few years, I adopted two more chihuahuas from Mary. Back in their homeland, Mexico, chihuahuas are called "lion-hearted dogs." In the wild, they hunt in packs and kill sheep.
Below: Corrie at the ripe old age of nearly 12. She has mellowed out and no longer swallows whole gophers - she let's the younger dogs do the dirty work nowadays.
For other dogs that I have known see Part one - Chummy and Part two - Punchy.
posted by Joubert at 7:37 AM
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