Apache

When we first heard about him, Apache was only known as red smooth coat Chow, an 8 mo. old male.  He had been running the streets in Orange County, VA for quite some time...most of his short life.  He was finally captured by animal control and taken in to the local shelter. He is such a wonderful little boy that although they'd had him since Jan. 29, they just didn't want to put him down.  Around mid March they called us and asked if we couldn't possibly take him into our rescue system, saying they would work with us time wise.

We told them that we'd need at least 2 weeks to find a foster facility to house him, but they told us we had until the following week and then Apache was to be euthanized.  So, we scurried around trying to find a foster home for him.  We requested he be taken to the vet to be checked for heartworm (HW) and receive all his shots.  When they called us back, it was to say that Apache had tested positive for HW.  It was decided that we would go ahead with the treatment down there.  That bought us some time until we would have to have a foster home for him.

A few weeks before we had joined a new email list that is a networking of rescue groups in and around Virginia.  I wrote to the list with my frustration over the entire situation, and one of the members said she'd be willing to house Apache for a couple of weeks.  That meant it would be about a week before she would take him in, two weeks with her, and then back to the vet for the next and final treatment when he would stay probably just one night, giving us at least three weeks before we would have to have someplace closer to us for him to stay.

Everything was beginning to come together, except for Apache being HW positive.  He still had not been given a name at that point, but was taken to the vet for that first treatment.  At the end of the week, we called to make arrangements to pick him up and deliver him to the temporary foster care giver, but were told that Apache was having a difficult time with the treatment and wasn't able to stand or walk very well, and they would call us as soon as we could pick him up.  That week passed, as well as another one, and then we finally decided that we were going to drive to the vet and at least get pictures of him that we could show at the upcoming Pet-A-Thon at the local PetsMart where we hold our adoption days.  Before we arrived at the vet's office, we'd decided to not just take pictures, but to take custody of Apache.

When we first arrived, the office was closed, but the office manager was running the month end statements.  So we asked to see Apache told her we were going to take him so we could show him at the upcoming event at PetsMart.  He was soooooooo scared and we barely get him out of the crate where he was being housed.  We managed to get a kennel leash over his head, and then took him outside.  Upon closer examination, we found that he was indeed not a purebred Chow as we'd originally been told, but rather probably a Chow/Spitz mix.  It was there outside the clinic that we tried to decide on a name for our new little rescue.  The manager went back into the building, and then the little red Chow stopped straining against the leash and allowed us to lead him to our car.  Once he saw our two Chows in the car, he got right in.  During the 80 mile ride back home, we tried giving him treats, but he wouldn't take anything.

The first week Apache was skittish and didn't want to associate much with anyone, but then he slowly started to come around.  We took him to adoption days and worked on socializing him, he learned how to play with the other Chows in our home, and even learned how to play with toys and eat certain kinds of treats.  Finally Apache began coming to us for lovin's, loved to play with us, proved to be very friendly, and would give the greatest stingy kisses.

Apache still marked everywhere in the house as he couldn't be neutered until the HW treatments were over.  We took him to our own vet and since he tested equivocal on the antigen testing, we needed to have him tested again in about a month to see if he really needed to have a HW treatment.  Meanwhile, we had Apache neutered, and hoped he would cease his marking indoors.

  Apache finally went to his new home along with another Chow/Spitz mix, Chestnut. We got Apache in for his retesting for HW and it came back negative. So, we did not need to have him treated afterall. He by the way did stop his marking indoors as we'd hoped.

Chestnut proved to be overly dominant with Apache and would push in any time he tried getting any attention, so he began to withdraw a little. Eventually, Chestnut became too much to handle in her puppiness with the children, so we removed her from the home in November. After she left, Apache began to come into himself more and gets all the attention he desires. Apache spent his first Christmas holiday in his new home and found the tree to be very interesting. The first thing he decided was that as all good trees, it needed to be marked...so mark it he did!

Page created by: Chow Rescue of No. VA
4 June 1999