Dog Blog: Rescued from a puppy mill

Princess is a Chihuahua born and bred to give birth and breed. When first born her tail was cut to the nub to enable the males to more easily mate with her. She remained at the breeding farm until her rescue. Lisa is now the proud owner of Princess. Princess is an obnoxious barker, sometimes driving Mom nuts. Lisa brings her to my house during those times and when she goes to work. She does not bark here. Why not? We do not know. We discussed bad body odor. Such as smelling like a male dog because Lisa hugs so many of them.

This is something Princess will not tolerate. If a male dog gets within five feet of her, she runs over and bites him on the snout regardless of size.

We discussed that Princess also may feel that Lisa demonstrates too much intimacy or may be jealous of her other dog, Max, a large, male golden Lab. This could be the problem. Being close to a male, especially alone, can be a doggie irritation. Who knows what goes on in the dark?

Princess is also a voracious eater. When Princess came to my home for the first time, the first place she scoped out was the food bowl location, and that is where she heads first thing every time she comes over.

It is surprising that she is not a barrel with four tiny legs and a head hanging out of it.

Lisa bought Princess a bright red doggie ski jacket, fake fur and all, and brought her over to doggie-sit while they got ready to go. I sat with her so she would not tug on the ski boot strings. I immediately recognized she had no skis. I proceeded to the kitchen to acquire some skis, came up with some Popsicle sticks — forks were considered; however, they where determined to be to cold on the paws after a while on the snow even though they were curled at the end and more slippery on the snow. I then secured the Popsicle sticks to her paws with dental floss and she was ready to hit to slopes. Then I thought she needed poles. Thinking again, I determined that she needed all four paws to dog ski effectively.

PEGI LOPEZ lives in Laguna Beach. To contact her, e-mail [email protected].