My Friend Cookie

I hope it's OK with all my fans and readers, but I would like to take a week off from giving my advices and opinions and tell you about a very special girl named Cookie who has found her way into my heart.

Cookie is a pittie (just like me) at the Humane Society of Warren County (where I used to be) and she has been there a long time (just like me before I got my Furever Family).  Here's the most important part -- she is really tired of being at the shelter and does not like HATES her kennel (just like me!)  She needs everyone's help to find her way out of the shelter.  I'm helping her send out her S.O.S. so she can find her Real Family very soon.

I feel like I'm the right girl to tell you about what Cookie is experiencing because we have so much in common, and I know she just wants to feel like herself again.  I think Cookie is one of the most beautiful dogs I have ever seen.  She is beautiful inside and out, and if you could really see her when she is outside or on an outing with Jessica (her Good Buddy), she is full of charm and energy and personality.

But in the shelter these days she doesn't really seem like she is very interested in entertaining guests or chatting with passersby, at least not while she is in her kennel.  She has been at the shelter since September 2012 and she is bummed that it's taking so long to bust out.  People walk by her kennel and say things like "Look at that sad girl."  But that's not the real Cookie.  When her Good Buddy Jessica comes to visit (twice a week as faithful as the sun and the moon), Cookie blossoms into her real self.

  

Cookie loves all of her special humans at the shelter, but she has the most fun and adventures with Jessica.  She gets to go outside and play games and learn new things.  Good Buddies have lots of time to spend with just their one lucky dog, and Cookie really loves her Good Buddy time because it gives her a chance to be herself.  Sometimes Cookie enjoys just hanging out at the shelter and playing with her special toys.  Other times, she goes on car rides (and on very special days she goes to Wendy's for cheeseburgers).

There are some days that she is just pooped after doing so many fun things, and all she wants to do is lie in the cool, green grass.

 And after running and playing ... and running some more ... sometimes Cookie just likes to close her eyes and take a snooze.  

 Cookie will very honestly tell you that she would strongly prefer to be the only dog in her Furever Home.  She grew up with kitties, but since she has been at the shelter for so long now, and she doesn't always feel like her normal, happy self, she doesn't like cats as much as she used to.  I think she could get used to cats again, with no trouble at all.  I know how it feels to be so stressed in the shelter that you don't have patience for other animals.  I was the same way after I had been there for a long time.  But once I got to my real home, (and I could tell it was my Furever Home almost on the first day), I started being really nice to the other dogs and cats in the house.  Some dogs don't like other dogs, and some don't like kitties either, and that might just be Cookie.  I just wanted to share a few of my advices on how I felt when I finally knew I was never going back to the shelter.  It makes a huge difference when you know for sure it's your Furever Home and you start to breathe and relax and trust, and there's someone in your life that loves lives to give you belly rubs as much as you like to get them.  It's the best.

Cookie is a smart girl.  She is a quick learner and a lover of people.  When she is out of the shelter, she is vibrant, bright and animated.  She is a young girl with a long and happy life waiting ahead of her. She wants her own spot on a couch, she wants her own window to sit and watch the joggers go by, and she wants her own mailman to bark at (OK, well ... she'll probably have to learn not to do that).  She really wants her own family with her own spot in the family SUV, so she can go on real family vacations.

Cookie would like to invite you to a special bake sale being held in her honor at Walmart in Front Royal on May 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It's called "Cookies for Cookie."  A bunch of Cookie's very favorite humans have organized this event to help more people get to know more about Cookie so that she can find her Furever Family very, very soon. 

There are lots of ways you can help my friend Cookie to find her Furever Family.  Maybe you are her Furever Family.  If you are, then come and meet her at 1245 Progress Road, Front Royal, VA  22630.  The shelter is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. everyday except Wednesday.  If you need a little time with Cookie to decide if it's a good fit, there's this thing called "Foster to Adopt."  (That's how I got my chance to use my disarming charm on  my "foster" parents ... it worked even better quicker than I thought it would).  Or you can share her pictures and her story in this blog post so that more people get to read about her, and then they will share, and pretty soon the whole world will know about my friend Cookie.  That would make me very happy.

Thank you for getting to know Cookie a little better.  She is a very sweet girl.  We're kinda like soul sisters.   

Please Just Call Me A Dog

Dear Annie,

If you could choose something to tell people about yourself, or about pit bull-type dogs in general, what would it be?

Signed,
Curious

Dear Curious,

Wow, I'm flattered and bewildered all at the same time.  I'm not really sure where to start.  I think first of all I would like everyone to know that I am not perfect. 

I am still learning good doggie manners.  I work on them all the time, and I'm a good girl, but I still have my weaknesses.  For example, I guard things.  I don't know why, and I am getting much better.  I don't do anything about it, I don't make a noise, or show one bit of aggression.  I just guard.  My food, my bed, the gate at the dog park, my toys, the pot roast in the crock pot, whatever seems important to me, I guard it.  Until one of my parents catches me doing it, and then I stop because I am "reminded" that I'm not supposed to be doing it.  I don't like it when I get  The Look or when my mom makes that funny noise that means "stop right this minute."  My mom says it is called "resource guarding" and I have to stop doing it.  Lots of dogs do it, but it doesn't make it right.  I don't do it as much as I used to, and I've almost broken the habit, but it has taken a long time.  It's very hard to break bad habits.   

I think it must be really hard for people to break bad habits, also, and I think people are in the bad habit of saying things about pit bull-type dogs that make us look bad, even when they don't realize that what they are saying might be harmful.  My least favorite thing for people to say to me is "Annie, you are the most well-behaved pit bull I have ever met."  Arrrrgggghhhh.

It's not that I'm not well-behaved, thank you very much, but what are they comparing me to?  What would be music to my ears is "Annie, you are the most well-behaved dog I have ever met."  Now that's what I'm talking about.  My parents did not have to train me any special way because I am a pit bull, they just had to teach me basic doggie manners and how to share and how to trust.  How I turned out had nothing to do with my breed, it had everything to do with the fact that I am a good dog.  And I am a dog that didn't get a really good start in life, so all this learning business had to come a little later in life.   

When someone tells me that I am the "best pit bull" they have ever met, what are they saying about my friend Cookie who is still waiting at the shelter?  Cookie is a very good dog, and she loves the outdoors and will never turn down a good game of fetch.

She loves the outdoors.

And she loves to get her belly rubbed.

It makes her smile.

My mom has a friend who recently said that when she hears someone say "she's the nicest pittie I've ever met," it sounds the same as if they were saying "she's the nicest felon I've ever met."  Now I know things come out wrong sometimes, and no one who has ever tried to pay us a compliment by saying this has ever intended it to come out wrong, but it sends a message to those who really don't know our breed very well that this "good pittie" is not the norm. And that's just not the truth.

So now, you wanna see some more really great pictures?  Our shelter has these really wonderful photographers (named Sue, Anna Marie and Franzi) and they spend time with all my brothers and sisters at the shelter and take pictures of them that make them look like movie stars.  Here's just a little sample of their work ....

This is Bella.  She came to the shelter as a stray and has Good Buddies who are teaching her to walk like a lady on a leash and other basic and important manners. I'm kinda jealous how she gets her one ear to do funny things.  I think it gives her a style advantage.

This handsome young boy is Dakota, and while we don't look alike, we actually are a LOT alike.  Remember, I told you about my parents having to teach me about not guarding things I love?  Well, this boy is going to be working really hard with his Good Buddy on basic manners and obedience to overcome some guarding/herding tendencies of his own.  Good luck, Dakota, I know you are going to be fine.  You just need to get your mind on other more important fun stuff.

This is Grace and she is simply beautiful.  Her Good Buddies are Joe and Amber and they are the answer to her prayers.  Grace really doesn't like the shelter, and it makes her anxious (boy, do I know that feeling).  This Saturday, Grace gets to go to the place where I get my nails done for a total beauty treatment.  She is going to get her furs all cleaned and brushed, her nails trimmed, the whole works.  I can't wait to hear how much she likes it. 

This is Genesis, but her best friends at the shelter call her Ginny.  (See her ear ... I am sooooo jealous!)  She works with 2 Good Buddies, and she is doing great, learning manners, and charming her Good Buddy Tom with kisses on his cheek.  That's the way to do it, Ginny ... keep up the good work!

And this is Karma.  She is a very young girl with lots of energy and enthusiasm.  Her Good Buddy is teaching her basic manners as well as impressing upon her that nibbling on fingers (even gently, as a puppy will do) is not a good way to make new friends.  Now tell me, if you saw this picture of Karma in the kennel, would your heart have fluttered like it did just now, or do you agree these pictures really tell you more about the individual dog?   

I love these pictures, and yes, most of them are pit bull types.  But they are ALL dogs. 
I love these pictures because they save lives.  And so do you when  you share them, and for that I thank you.

See you next week.