Allie, 8 years old isn’t a quitter.   She’s a success...She is one our our Golden Gems.  Allie was found stray in a grocery store parking lot last summer.  Weak & emaciated, she needed a safe place to rest and recover.  The little red dog was in bad shape.  A few more days on her own, and she probably would have died.  In foster care, Allie battled stomach & skin upsets, and failed to thrive.  We ran test after test in an attempt to discover what was wrong.  We didn’t get definite answers, but suspected poisoning and allergies and a history of abuse. 

Allie proved to be gentle, sweet and quiet; anxious and timid.   Allie’s foster mom, Lisa watched as Allie teetered between relative “up” periods, interspersed with times of depression, weight loss, and skin flare-ups.  A prescription diet of rice and egg dog food helped immensely.  Allie gained weight and her skin improved.

Allie’s adoptive household needs to be calm.  Allie needs a safe haven and a place of kindness and gentleness.  She has love to give, quietly and thoughtfully.  Of course, Allie is housetrained and very polite.  She is trustworthy loose in the house and does not need to be crated.  Allie enjoys car rides and walks and hanging out with friends.  She has come a long way since last summer:

We love this little red girl!  She came into our home a year ago for what I thought would most probably be a time of hospice.  Horrifically thin, and sick, and maltreated, Allie was a heartbreaking sight.  But, with each day’s passing, she gained strength and quickly, her true colors began to shine – strong will, gentle, stubborn, meek, shy, sometimes pushy, always thoughtful – QUIRKY! – a paradox!  What a wonderfully exasperating experience it has been to watch and to help her heal physically and emotionally.

Some of her issues have been mind-boggling.  For example, Allie will not eat dry dog food from any type of bowl or dish.  She will eat soft food or people food, but not dry pellets.  Why?…I think because it “moves” – makes noise, rolls around…so, we’ve compromised.  She eats dry pellets off the ground – a carpeted area – BECAUSE…Otherwise it rolls around!  Allie isn’t a finicky eater, but she will routinely turn down certain foods.  She seems to have an innate sense of what disagrees with her system, and she avoids eating those foods.  She is however, especially fond of cheese and pasta.  She loves my grandmother’s chicken tetrazini and will pursue a “moving” bowl across the room to lick up every morsel.  Quirky!

Allie is not comfortable on linoleum to the point of being phobic.  Area rugs provide a means of “island jumping” for her, but clearly, she needs a home with minimal bare flooring.  Another must for Allie’s new home is serenity.  Loud, rowdy actions make Allie nervous, even fearful.  One day my husband and son were having a sword fight (using the cardboard tubes from gift wrap).  Their play brought her shaking and all but climbing into my lap.  Another time a high-spirited game of UNO had her shivering and seeking refuge.

 My 12 year old recently began band and has chosen to play the trombone.  At first the sounds emitting from his room were a little nerve-racking to all of us.  Allie would look to me then my husband with an expression incredulous that no one was calling 9-1-1.

Allie has an odd little face that truly expresses her character.  She has a snaggled tooth under bite that gives her jaw line a squared off little pout.  To me it looks just like Katherine Hepburn (as Katie Elder).  In more playful moods, her upper lip catches to one side and she looks like Lucille Ball making that famous “I Love Lucy” face.  And when she’s protecting her food from our other Golden (the “Bio-Vac”) her eyes squint a little, her mouth tightens and she looks like Steven Segal.

 Allie has many endearing qualities.  I love the way she sometimes lounges in the backyard, head up and to the wind, smelling whatever’s on the breeze.  I love the way she quietly strolls the privacy fence and peeps through the knotholes to spy on the goings on in the next yard.  I love her exceptional tolerance of young children and her excitement to go for a ride.  I love her perfect house manners and the way she so quickly adapted to our house rules. 

 Allie is smart and graceful, and bewitchingly astute.  She learns fast and is entertained by the routine.  She has made a place in our home and our hearts, but I know in my own heart that someone special is waiting for her companionship.

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