CHARLIE

CHARLIE IS NOT AT THE HUMANE SOCIETY SHELTER. THIS IS A COURTESY POSTING FOR A LOCAL FAMILY WHO CAN NO LONGER KEEP CHARLIE AND IS WILLING TO KEEP HIM UNTIL HE CAN BE PLACED INTO A LOVING, RESPONSIBILE HOME. FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT KRISTA MESSER AT (606) 789-2430 OR EMAIL [email protected]. DO NOT CALL THE SHELTER AS THEY HAVE NO INFO ON CHARLIE. Behavior/Personlity: I've really exposed Charlie to a lot in the short time I've owned him. He's been taken on walks, car rides and he's also been to Petsmart and has been to the vet many times. There isn't a leash law where I live so everyone irresponsibly lets their dogs roam so when we go on walks it's extremely common to be chased down by aggressive dogs. I tell Charlie to walk on and he easily ignores the threat and continues. He's extremely intelligent but has a bit of the stubborn puppy streak still. He learns tricks and commands quickly but you have to teach him in brief sessions or he becomes bored and you basically lose your progress. I crate trained him when I kept him in my apartment with me so putting him up at night would be no problem if he's kept inside. He is also house broken and actually never made one mistake in that regard, possibly because I was strict about asking him if he wanted to go potty and walking him right away. But like I said he's smart so within the first few days of my owning him he would go out on the leash and do his business (when told "go potty") within a few minutes and he'd be ready to play or go inside or whatever was on the agenda. He is best at sitting and laying down but he also knows drop it (when playing with toys) and he is showing willingness to learn stay. He is very much husky when it comes to personality but he's slightly more mellow thanks to the chocolate lab in him. He did not inherit a love for water like most labs, in fact he's extremely prissy and doesn't enjoy getting in wet grass. He's not a huge fan of bath time but he's extremely easy to bathe with his coat type, he doesn't require a large number of bathes either which is shocking... he hardly picks up any odor and stays shockingly clean (probably due to his distaste for getting dirty). He does blow his coat like a husky but he's extremely easy to groom and obviously I'd be happy to let his brush go with him to help when that time of year comes around. He has yet to meet a person he doesn't like and he's been exposed to our family gatherings of 30 or more people including children. My nephew Ian can find just about any button an animal has and even he does well with Charlie when he visits. He will sometimes (like most dogs) "jump" on you when he first sees you, this is solved by telling him down and patting him because he's simply looking for affection. As I mentioned he does well with my 2 terriers, even if they haven't warmed up to him, and he does well with my horse. He didn't care about the cats around the house at first but during his time being outdoors they've become a bit of a sport when they bolt away from him. He's never injured them so while I'm sure there's a bit of a prey drive included I think it's more him trying to play with animals that just don't want to play with him. He doesn't have any triggers on his body, you can pull on his tail, touch his feet, rub his ears open his mouth and basically do anything you want without him showing aggression. He did have ear mites for a while so when he smells the medication for that he is fearful and will hide because he doesn't like having that stuff squirted in his ears but without the medication you can do whatever you want to his ears. One thing that people shy away from is generally his spotted tongue. This has nothing to do with having Chow Chow somewhere in his lines. It's one of the very common misconceptions just because Chow Chow is the most common know dark tongued dog. Purebred Labradors and Siberian Huskies often get birthmarks on their tongues. I have done my research on this subject because I wish to educated people so that dogs won't be shunned for reasonings that might very well be totally unrelated to them. Medical History: When I rescued him he was completely covered in an all life stages tick infestation. He had a few guard hairs on his back to give the illusion he had a coat but after it was stroaked back you could just see his skin crawling and crusted over with infection and insects. He chewed his tail tip to the point that it was constantly bleeding and there is a little patch (that you can't see with all the other fur) that will never grow hair back. He was very skinny and also had the ear mites taking over inside his ears. He was not neutered and had never been given any shots and also had some issues with his rear dew claws, one of which was dislocated (bone included not just the claw). I have since treated and cured the tick infestation and the massive skin infection, he is free of ear mites, has been neurted and after talking it over with the vet I had his rear dew claws only removed to prevent reoccurring injuries. He recieved his rabies shot 8/29/2009 and his bordetella shot 8/23/2009 and recieved his health certificate so he could travel out of state. At the start of September he went for another checkup at another vet where he was checked for heartworm and lyme disease and scheduled to be neutered and to have his rear dew claws removed. He is heartworm negative and thankfully clear of lyme disease. He was neutred in October 2009 but the ear mites still hadn't fully gone away so he was treated for this again. Early this June he was showing discomfort in his ears and the vet I had been taking him to said it was ear mites, but the medication was not working so I took him to a vet in Louisa who I trusted to properly examine him. There he had bloodwork done which all came back normal and then he was sedated so that his ears could be examined and properly cleaned. He was given antibiotics to treat infection and has now recovered. He's about 70lbs, comes up to about knee height (I'm 5'6) and is chocolate with a liver nose, tan/cream husky markings and bright gold eyes. He is actually around 3 years old. The simple important things I forgot are that he also loves to nap and he's extremely good at it when he finds the right shadey spot to relax and his favorite toy is his soccer ball. :) For more info, please call Krista Messer at (606) 789-2430 or email [email protected].