No huge breaking news here but isn’t it nice to see how the dogs are bringing together the people in the condo?
Thanks to TheStar.com for this sweet article.
Owner rates rescued dog a perfect `10′
Nov 24, 2007
Valerie Hauch
TORONTO STARCharles is about 16, half blind and toothless. He’s also as close to the perfect pet as a 10-pound chihuahua with a lot of attitude can get, in the opinion of Norma Priday.
“He’s all mine attractive as he is, you can’t have him!,” says Priday.
A lawyer by profession, Priday has done a lot of fostering work with Chihuahua Rescue and Transport, a group that tries to find homes for abandoned members of the tiny breed (ccrt.net).
Charles whom Priday has had for about eight years had been found abandoned near the Scarborough Bluffs. When Priday took in HRH (His Royal Highness, his preferred nickname, she says) it was only supposed to be for a week.
But the then-difficult dog won her heart and after she took him for obedience classes, their relationship improved, although he “continues to try, from time-to-time, to boss me around! He is ultra alpha.”
Charles is “terrific with every person he meets” as well as other dogs and cats. (He was great friends with the cat that Priday had when she got him.)
And unlike other pint-sized pets that are toted by certain celebrities, Charles is a “four on the floor, totally housebroken little man,” says Priday. But when he’s relaxing “he is a burrower and has to be right under any blanket he sees, especially if you are there too.”
Charles does have one peculiar habit. If anyone enters the apartment or if they are visiting another home, Charles immediately cosies up to any new people and gives Priday the brush-off.
“If anyone comes over, even a total stranger like the rug cleaner, he wants me to leave while he snuggles up to them.”
Priday bought her 1,200-square foot, two-bedroom condo in 2003 and loves it for the fact it’s full of light and has a balcony that looks out over the mid-Toronto beltline and offers a view of the lake in the fall when there’s no tree canopy.
There are so many dog owners in her building and other condos in the area, that Priday says “we have become a real community through our dogs. I never thought I would feel like I lived in a neighbourhood, but now I do and it’s a very close one. If a dog is sick, people call or email those with experience. The dogs play and have a blast and have brought us together.”
Condo dog owners in the area even have “condo hops” where they and their four-footed roomies socialize and take a look at each other’s suites.
