Welcome Ariana!

Please welcome Ariana into CP! She was an owner surrender - her dad was crying as he released her to the shelter. He is an older man who had to move to an apartment that didn't allow pets. I picked her up last Sunday, 2/10/08. So far, we know that she has a collapsed trachea, which means she coughs whenever excited or picked up (picking her up means a little added pressure to the chest area). After several days of antibiotics and a cough suppressant, she rarely coughs now and is full of spirit. Ariana is very sweet, gives lots of kisses, but cries at night because she is alone (I think she must have slept with her former owner). You cannot imagine how heartbreaking it is to hear her cry and cry and cry.... As soon as I go to bed, she starts panting heavily, then it escalates to pants/whines, then louder whines. I know all she wants is to snuggle for the night with me, with someone. I'm sure she misses her dad. After three nights of only a little sleep, I finally found the magic word to make her hush and go to bed - "No". With owner surrenders, these dogs know many things, and we foster moms have to figure out what words work for them.

Ariana is 9 years old, 18 lbs, spayed, and loves to "frolic". She is mostly a happy little girl, and has moments of cairn silliness. She also has an umbilical hernia. We think her family didn't have the money to have the hernia fixed, as they probably had to spend lots of money to treat her for heartworms a few years ago. Fortunately, Ariana is heartworm and parasite free now, has good knees and hips, only pinpoint cataracts so she can see just fine, and can hear well, too. She's up to date on all her vaccines, so will be available for adoption soon. We plan to have her hernia fixed, as well as giving her a badly needed dental (at least one tooth needs to come out). I'm so thankful that the shelter volunteer and the shelter worker thought she might be a cairn and contacted me. I'm keeping Ariana temporarily. I'm hoping a CP foster home is looking for a very sweet and house trained little girl that needs help... Ariana is currently snuggled up on the couch, as in one of the pictures below.

Ariana has the cutest and tiniest cairn "turtle tail" with just a slight curve to it (does not curl over). Ariana has a wonderful mahogany/grey brindle coloring, except for her face/head which is silver/black. Ariana is the perfect lap dog for that person who truly needs cairn love to get through the day. She makes me aware that life is more about love than anything. This girl is sweet, sweet, sweet! Ariana is very thankful to all of you who do whatever you can for the many cairns in need.