Melinda

 Aurora (just wait till 3 months from now!)

It has been a great holiday, blessed with friends and two beautiful Bouvs and one adorable wana-be Bouv beginning their new lives with their wonderful new families.  Melinda an adorable Bouv/Chow mix was picked up by her new Mom Louise Richards and her sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law Henry on Saturday.  Louise lives in Louisiana, and Elizabeth and Henry were visiting from Canada.  This is Louise’s first Bouv, but Elizabeth and Henry have had a Bouv in the past, in fact I think they will be looking for one in the future!  Aurora, our soon to be shining star will be joining Cher Donato and will have a Bouv Brother Andrew (Cocoa Bean) who just turned four and Hina (Bina) a senior Bouv girl from ABRL, plus little Lucy the diva of the family who is the senior member of the family a Schnauzer mix of around 13 or so, and a little Jack Russell terrorist youngster named GiGi.  Cher also has  lovely equine members in her family, and five acres fenced in for Aurora to romp and play with Andrew.  Right now Aurora (Rorie) is not at her “prettiest” but don’t tell her, in no time at all she will live up to her name and be a “shining star!” (My friend Len Gaska chose the name for her, like the little song says ”this little light of mine I’m gonna let it shine, let shine, let it shine!) Aurora will be taking a little side trip and visiting with Anne Allen who has become a dear friend, she is responsible for this blog, it was one of her many generous Easter surprises for us!  It seems when Anne comes to visit her family seems to get larger!  On her first visit she adoped one of my VERY favorite boys named Nova, he was not in the best condition when he joined her family.  In fact in his shelter picture when I called Rich in to take a look to see if he thought it was a Bouvier,  he said he is so thin you can’t tell what he is, but the Bouv nose gave it away!!!  He was so emaciated his hip bones stuck out and you could literally count his vertebrate.  When he joined Anne’s family everything changed for Nova, he got a new name– Cosmo because he is a quirky little character, he has the most lovable manerisms and the cutest face.  He is NOT named after Cosmo Kramer, yet another quirky character, but those of  you old enough may remember the sweet character Cosmo Topper whose two best friends were ghosts George and Marian Kerby (yes, I’m old I remember them well!) <g>  Another great thing– Como got a sister Sophie, she is our Maxwell’s sister, and they react in a very special manner, very different from other Bouviers that have visited our home, there seems to be a special intamacy that they “know” each other, and Maxwell is very affectionate and respectful of her!  Cosmo has blossomed and is turning into the beautiful Bouvier boy he once was, and he and Sophie are best buddies.  Well this visit brings yet another special little boy into Anne’s loving home, I called him Shorty as the name was quite befitting!  I had Ruthie Macniven our friend from the Miami Dade Rescue Railroad and a member of Costal Boxer Rescue to pull a little guy that looked like a fawn Bouvier puppy.  He is about 7 months old and as cute as a button!  Ruthie pulled him for us and I drove to Hollywood Florida to meet Ruthie and pick him up!  About a block from the exit Ruthie called and said the puppy has short legs, I said well he is a puppy and will grow, she also told me he had an injured leg, when I arrived and looked into Ruthie’s station wagon it looked like a Bouv pup to me, but when I went to pick him up, he was still droggy from being neutered, he stood up, and I said where are your legs??? He has legs that are about 4″ BUT we pulled him and he was ours!  I guess it was meant to be because with his wounded leg, perhaps he would not have been adopted, but he really is the cutest little teddy bear you ever saw.  Who knows what he is, but if I were describe him to you I would say think Bouv/Corgi you get the picture???  Well since he wasn’t exactly a Bouv we didn’t want to put him up on the ABRL website and I did not want to board him so I quarantined him in my garage for two weeks.  It became evident he was a special little guy, in fact he became friends with the cats who live on our property.  The first day he was here he guarded his food and became like a Tazmanian devil, it kind of worried me for his adoption prospects, but in a few days he preferred eating out of my hand, and he even shared his dinner with the resident kitties, what a little lover.  When I took him to Dr. Jeyapaul’s the x-rays showed he had a frature but it wasn’t a fresh one but was healing nicely.  Dr. Jeyapaul said he did not think it would be best to rebrake it but let Mother Nature take it’s course.  This is one time I really didn’t agree with Dr. Jey because I felt so bad with him limping and he got very tired after the shortest walk, but I left him set the pace, we walked very little those first few days.  After a couple weeks Marlene across the street saw him, she had driven with me to pick him up and she said WOW what a difference he is hardly limping at all, you know what since I was around him I didn’t relaize it until she said it, and then I said WOW you’re right, so I guess the quarantine paid off in another way.  Now Shorty who has been renamed Totto by Rich and approved by Anne and I, can do a suitable Bouvier bounce for a guy who has 4″ legs! <g>  Well because of my stories and affection for Totto Anne fell in love with him, much the same way she did Cosmo, soooo Anne took yet another sojourn from Gainesville to Loxahatchee to fetch the newest member of her family, BUT that wasn’t good enough–she volunteered to bring Aurora back to Gainesville until Cher’s sister-in-law who lives in Gainesville too can take a trip to visit Cher and deliver Aurora!  Aurora will be in great hands, Anne, Cher and I all have one thing in common, we are great ‘Nanas”, we love to fatten our babies up and make them healthy!  Aurora’s future is looking rosey thanks to a lot of wonderful women with BIG hearts and in this elite group I include our dear friend Ruthie for without her we would never have been able to help so many needy Bouvs out of Miami Dade Animal Control.  She is not only a wonderful asset to Bouvier Rescue, but volunteers so much of her time transporting any dog in need to a safe harbor no matter how far the ride!  Ruthie also has an excellent relationship with the good ladies down at Miami Dade Animal Control Sherri Wright and Mary Padilla who have been wonderful to work with enabeling us to rescue many Bouvs down in Miami who really need it!  Thank you ladies!!!!