Kringle was a cream, 1 1/2 yr old male when we got him from a NC SPCA shelter where they had held him from late summer/early fall until we could find foster care space here in VA in April of 1999. He showed himself to be a very sweet, loving, beautiful boy who was extremely affectionate and would kiss you to the point of distraction. Before we brought him up from NC he had a wart removed from his forehead...everyone would ask about the spot on his head. We finally decided that we needed a more interesting tale to tell, so we began telling people when they asked that we thought it would be too difficult to adopt him out as a unicorn so we had his horn removed ;-}

The paperwork we finally got on Kringle showed a name of Sammy, but that was scratched out and changed to Kringle. Then the paperwork showed him to be a Samoyed, but then changed to ChowX due to his spotted tongue. However, the story given when Kringle had been turned in to the shelter was that both his parents were AKC. So, unaware of what was on the initial vet paperwork, we could only go by what the owners told the shelter at the time of surrender. Therefore, we have always told everyone that he was supposedly full bred, but we felt that there definitely must have been something else in the wood pile somewhere along the line if his parents truly were AKC.

We would take Kringle to our adoption days where he would bark constantly. We came to the conclusion that there was just too much stimulation there and that perhaps Kringle had an alternative motive...he felt he already had a home and would bark so no one would want to adopt him. Accordingly, everyone would look at him, say what a beautiful boy he was, but with all his barking and his being a larger boy would not even consider him for their home.

Kringle loved all other dogs and wanted to play with them, as they would walk by with their owners in the store. However, one day a small Min Pin was walking by Kringle and jumped in his face to attack him. Kringle picked the little dog up in his mouth and upon command, immediately dropped the dog. The only problem after that incident was that Kringle no longer trusted other dogs walking by him while on lead, and especially no longer liked small dogs. So it was our task to work with him to change his behavior. Not long after the incident, a lady and her daughter came in to see our Chows, saw Kringle, and fell in love with him. Neither of them was prepared at the time to adopt, but the lady asked if she could foster him. So, she took him home for a while and enjoyed taking him on camping trips as well as to their boat on weekends. Ultimately she and her husband decided that Kringle would not work out for them as he still had the problem with other dogs he would pass by while they were on their walks. So Kringle came back to stay at his original foster home.

It was quite a number of months later that a family came into the store one day looking for a companion Chow for their blue female, Scamper, and a special companion for their daughter. They took their time in getting familiar with the stories of the different Chows we had at the adoption day and getting to know their personalities. In the end they felt that they were most interested in Kringle and Joe. So they filled out the application and we made plans to visit them for the home inspection the following week. By the time we were to do the home inspection, it had been decided that of the two, Kringle was the one that would work best in their home. So, that Wednesday evening we took Kringle to visit and see how the two Chows would get along. Everything went very well and it was decided that he would go to live with them either that week Friday or the next, depending upon when we would be able to get Kringle in for his shots update.

We unfortunately found out that Thursday that Kringle tested positive for Heartworm. Apparently he had already been infected when we first got him from NC, but as we'd been giving him the Heartworm pills, he had not been reinfected, no microfilaria were present, and his heart had not been damaged. So, we let the family know of his condition and that we would need to take him in for treatment in the beginning of December. They were not dissuaded from adopting Kringle by the news, so he went to his new home that next day. The first night Kringle sat at the door we'd exited the home by when we left, scratched the door, and cried all night long. The next day he did eat a good meal, went for a very long walk with his new dad, and seemed to have accepted that he now had a new home with a wonderful family of his very own that even had a playmate for him.

Donations

Chow Rescue of Northern Virginia is a non-profit organization. If you would like to make a donation by credit card to Chow Rescue of No. VA, you can register for online payments at PayPal; the email address you'll need to use is Chowrescuenva@cox.rr.com and the name is McBee. You can also make a donation by check payable to Michael McBee at P.O. Box 2083, Falls Church, VA 22042-2083.

Page created by: Chow Rescue of No. VA
14 November 1999