Spot the old, deaf dog
Spot
arrived at the sanctuary over the New Year's holiday. Her
elderly owner in Chinook, Montana, had died Christmas week,
leaving no instructions on what to do with his beloved little
dog.
We think Spot's owner thought family members would take her if something happened to him, but they couldn't. So when they came to town to arrange his funeral, they scheduled his dog's euthanasia at the same time (ironically, on the same day).
The family's accountant had heard what was going to happen to Spot and called us. We agreed to take her. The accountant drove Spot down to Great Falls and we picked her up there.
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The first thing we noticed was Spot's rhinestone collar and hot pink leash. We thought, "Gee, honey, you seem. .. hmm … a bit past your prime for an outfit like that." We ditched the collar and leash.
We don't know exactly how old she is, but we reckon well over ten years of age. She tipped the scale at sixteen pounds. She is completely deaf and visually impaired. She needed dental work, suffered from ear infections and had dry, flaky skin. (Haven't we seen something on TV for this?)
We learned from blood tests that her thyroid isn't functioning properly, so now she gets daily medication for that.
We're not sure about her breed mix, but we think she is distantly related to Yoda from Star Wars.
Initially we were concerned about how this tiny dog would adjust from living a solitary life with an elderly widower to a sanctuary with so many other animals. We needn't have worried. Spot has thrived on all the activity here.
She realized that her best defense in a place full of much bigger dogs was to shriek at the slightest provocation, real or imagined. Whenever she thinks another dog is standing too close to her - or possibly, just maybe, might step over her - she shrieks. That sends all the dogs scrambling from the room and Steve and Alayne racing in to see what the fuss is about.
When she's not sending everyone else scattering, Spot spends her days sleeping on a bed under Steve's desk. Yet come meal time she gets so excited that she does a little dance in the kitchen and jumps up and down in the air, just to make sure we know she's really interested in eating.
For a small, old girl, she still has a lot of spunk.
