Our star this week is Honeybun, who lives with her person-mom and dad and canine "sister"
(Sugarfoot, whom we met last week). Her person mom writes,
"Honeybun is a mixed breed stray, so we don't know for sure what kind of dog she is, but we
think she looks like part Chihuahua and part Dachshund. She has big ears like a
Chihuahua; her feet, legs and long body look like a Dachshund. The vet thinks she is
about the same age as Sugarfoot, (4 years, August, 2006) so we just say their birthdays
are on the same day.
"We first saw her on the road when we driving home one night. She was wandering on the
road in the dark and all we could see was a small dog with big ears, her eyes shinning in
the headlights. We live in a semi-rural area and had heard about some coyotes having been
seen in the neighborhood, so I was afraid she would be killed. We thought maybe she had
just gotten out of a yard somewhere because she was too small we thought to be allowed to
run around out of a fence. I didn't enter my mind that someone must have "dumped" her
(which I hate). Anyway, we stopped, I got out of the car to get her, but she wouldn't
come to me. She would get under the car and bark her head off. Then we couldn't get
her out from under the car. So my husband would slowly back up while I crouched down and
directed him as I tried to see where she was so he wouldn't run over her. We couldn't get
her that night but kept thinking about her. The following week we would see her again
from a distance here and there. We kept trying to get her but couldn't. I phoned around
to the neighbors trying to find out if she belonged to anyone, checked with the local vets
and animal clinic, but no luck.
"Finally she turned up in a neighbor's garage and he tricked her into a cage with some
food. He called us and we put her in our garage, still in the cage, opened the door but
she wouldn't come out she was so afraid. She just stayed in the cage in the garage for
about a week. My husband would go out and feed her and gradually began holding the food
out with his hand. She would come get the food but go back into the cage. To make a long
story short, he gradually won her over and she would get up in his lap. Then after having
seen Sugarfoot go in and out through the garage, Honeybun followed Sugarfoot into the
house. She very gradually began to trust us and has become more friendly with others even
though she has had some major learning hurdles. We wonder what her past was like.
"Our original plan was to rehabilitate her so someone else would adopt her, but we realized
no one else would most likely take her, so we kept her. She is so attached to my husband it
isn't funny. She is pacing and whining if he is outside and she isn't with him. She is
fairly content when with me but prefers to be with him.
We've had her about 2 years, and she has finally become adjusted to being part of our
family and being trustworthy with a "potty outside only" rule (ha, we have a great carpet
cleaner). I think it helped her a lot having Sugarfoot around, because she learned many
things from her, plus Sugarfoot is gentle and was nice with her. We also learned a lot
about how to train dogs from watching a T. V. program called the Dog Whisperer, which we
think is great."
