Princess Fluffy





Princess Fluffy 2003

3/17/03: This sweet but frightened girl was at the Page County shelter in Stanley, VA. The people there don’t really understand Chows and she had very little chance of finding a loving home without someone seeing her and falling in love. They think of all Chows as being vicious, so they would not even handle her there with anything but a catchpole. She had just a number, not a name…# 3754…we have no idea what the owners had called her even. She had been an owner give up. So she just sat or laid at the back of her cage shaking, waiting for her humans to return to take her home, not understanding that they no longer wanted her. The rescue group that worked so diligently to get her rescued gave her the name of Princess Fluffy -- they didn’t know it at the shelter. There were several groups trying to find a way to rescue this sweet girl, but as all of them were full and had nowhere to keep her, Princess was to lose her last chance at being saved as of 27 March 2003. We came into the fight for her survival 17 March 2003. None of us were getting anywhere in trying to save her.

3/26/03: The shelter where she was being kept had just undergone a major turnover in management as they had become embroiled in a severe case of mismanagement and animal cruelty when it was discovered that a large number of the animals that had been at the shelter were shot to death rather than euthanized as prescribed by law. The shelter is a very small facility, and it has always been overflowing with animals. Well, 26 March 2003 we got word that the shelter was once again full and 27 March 2003, a large number of the animals there were slated to be euthanized…Princess Fluffy was at the head of the list to go. Several of us had been contacted about another Chow in peril at another shelter in the same time period and there was nothing any of us could do to save that Chow. She lost her battle despite the heroic efforts of many people on her part and the fact that her owner had probably finally been found…he was in CA on a business trip and could not meet the shelters demands of proof before they decided her time limit would be up. He found out about her demise of his beloved Chow the night after her death. On the heels of this situation, all of us were desperate to do something for Princess, no matter what. So, we scurried around trying to find what we could to save her.

GREAT NEWS! Princess Fluffy is coming to town! She has been rescued and has a second shot at life thanks to a group of dedicated rescuers. A volunteer who could no longer deal with the uncertainty of the fate of several of the animals at the shelter took it upon herself to drive the couple of hours to the shelter to pull all the animals she could that rescue groups were willing to commit to taking. Armed with a list from several rescue groups across the area all the way to the eastern shore, she picked up Princess Fluffy and all the others slated to be PTS as of Thursday. We found out that Princess Fluffy had no medical care, so we are having her taken directly to a veterinary office that will work with rescue on their rates where she will be kept overnight. From there she will be taken on Thursday to a kennel facility where she will be boarded until a permanent or foster home can be found for her. We are going to need any donations we can get for her medical care, housing, and grooming. If you can pledge anything, send us an email at chowrescue@cox.net. If you are interested in adopting or fostering the Princess, please read our policies and fill out a non-binding application.

3/27/03: Princess Fluffy, though disheveled, is adorable. She acts very preoccupied, as opposed to haughty. She will take head stroking patiently, but is nervous about being touched from behind, especially on her back end--she will flinch and look, as if she is expecting discomfort. She didn't exactly act as if she was sore in her back end--more that she had been poked or pulled back there. She also flinched at loud noises, but recovered well.

She was patient as I worked several collars and slip-leashes on and off her neck. She has a MASSIVE ruff. I would not be surprised if the groomer finds Jimmy Hoffa in there as they bathe her. Her back end is sparse, but not like you usually see on a dog with allergies or hot spots. She did not scratch anywhere even once in the time I was with her.

The Princess jumped right into the back seat of my pickup after I walked up there first. She lay right down and rode like that most of the way. A few times she walked around a little, but quietly. At one point, she put her front paws up on the folded-up seat so she could look out the back window, but only for a few moments. She seemed to have fine balance, but acted tired.

Her lips and tongue are blue/black. She has blue/black eyeliner and an "open" face--a very cute little face, I might add. Her paws are ridiculously tiny, and appear to have white nails. Don’t know if that is common for chows (the nails part). She appears to have a classic Chow build, only smaller. She probably could stand to gain a couple of pounds, and probably will when her whipworms are gone.

She noticed when each new person walked in the room, and made eye contact with several of us. She walked a few steps towards the kennel girl at Woodlawn, but was still quite reserved, but not "cold."She looked at he Woodlawn house cat with calm interest.

3/29/03: Michael and I went to the kennel where Princess Fluffy is being kept for now until we can find the right foster care home for her. She is a very sweet baby girl, albeit very scared. We did get her out of the shelter, but being in a kennel situation is too familiar and similar to being at the shelter with all the runs and barking dogs. The big difference is that at the kennel she is being well cared for, getting well fed, and is receiving one on one attention from humans daily.

When we arrived, Genevieve took us back to see the Princess. Genevieve is the young lady who has been working with the Princess since her arrival yesterday. She is also the same young lady who worked with another terribly traumatized Chow that had been boarded there for quite a while by a fellow Chow rescuer. She did wonders for Zeus, and we believe she will be good for our Princess as well. She has great patience and is very gentle with the Princess, which is exactly what is needed. When we first saw Princess Fluffy, she was very scared and would not come to the front of her run, but rather remained at the back of the run growling quietly at us. Genevieve opened up the run and tried talking to her, but she just sat there looking at all of us growling...scared. Genevieve tossed her some chunks of canned food while we sat on the wall across from the run watching and speaking lovingly and softly to the Princess, trying to encourage and calm her, Michael taking a few pictures. Genevieve was called away and we remained with the run gate once again latched, separating the Princess from us. Michael eventually opened the gate and began tossing bits of the food to her, while we continued speaking to her, trying to calm her down. After a while, I wandered down the walkway a bit and found another Chow one of our fellow Chow rescuers has boarded there, Woofy. Eventually Michael left the Princess and joined me to take Woofy out to the play yard for a bit.

After a while of working with Woofy and playing with him, Michael left us in the play yard to return to the Princess. In a little bit, I got one of the attendants come to the play yard to take Woofy back to his run. While outside in the main yard between the buildings and play yards, Michael who had been in the run with the Princess talking to her came by with her on a lead into the yard, headed for the play yard we'd used with Woofy. Michael said that while we'd been with Woofy the Princess had eaten all the food that had been in the dish and the treats we'd given her earlier that she wouldn't eat at the time we'd tried bribing her with them. So, he had just stayed there with her, talking to her, letting her know that she was safe and he wasn't going to let anyone hurt her...but she remained at the back of her run. He eventually worked his way nearer her in the run with the slip lead telling her he was going to make sure no one hurt her. Finally he told her he was going to take one more step toward her and then slipped the lead over her head. Upon getting the lead on her, she got up and followed him out of the run. We took her into the play yard where Michael started to walk her around the yard, giving her heeling commands. She followed him through the paces. He gave her sit commands, gently, softly laying his hand on her rump, guiding it down. She allowed this, with no reaction. He gave her a sit stay command, and she got up immediately at first, but he returned her to sit stay, and this time she obeyed. He stepped a few paces away from her, got down in front of her, and then gently pulled the lead to himself telling her to come. The Princess walked right up to him receiving grand praises for her performance. She appeared to enjoy her workout with Michael.

At one point Michael sat down and began brushing the Princess. She just sat there or stood there, quietly, allowing herself to be brushed. We both scratched and stroked her as the brushing continued. Since I wasn't sitting on the bench, and her rump was toward me, I got to brush her hindquarters. The girls at the kennel had thought that the Princess was very matted, but in fact, she just had a lot of her blown coat still on her, with a lot of dirt that was all stuck together by the oiliness of her coat. Who knows how long it has been since she'd been given a bath. But she certainly did not mind our brushing her. Michael tried to turn her around at one point, but she got scared as he used just a tad too much force and she let him know she was scared by snapping in the air. So he coaxed her slowly and gently guiding her, she obliged calmly. Michael finally told her that we'd done enough for today and that they would take another walk around the play yard. So once again he ran her through her commands and she seemed to really enjoy herself. Time had come when we needed to return her to her run and leave. At one point as Michael was trying to get her down to the walkway leading back to her run, she got scared and balked, but Michael walked her around again and this time she followed him quietly and entered her run obediently. He kneeled down and gave the Princess scratches on her face and chest, and she actually gave his hand a kiss. Michael latched the gate of her run and came up to the main yard where I was waiting and the Princess's whole demeanor was totally different from when we'd first arrived. She was standing at the front of her run by the gate, smiling. She had not been smiling when we first got there, and here she now stood with a big smile on her lips. Genevieve came by and we told her of the hand kiss and she looked over to the Princess, seeing she was now at the gate, not the back of the run, so she just couldn't resist but to go over to her and give her some pets and scratches. We left promising to return on the morrow, knowing that we had made a significant breakthrough. It was a very good day.

What did we find out today? Well, first, let me say that we already knew that we have a very scared little girl who has been abused too many times by the kids who had handled her so roughly to the point that she began snapping at them to warn them off. That had been the reason she'd been given up. At least the parents were wise enough to know that if the Princess were to continuing living in their home, the snapping would eventually turn into a bite...so, although it should never have come to the point that she was snapping in the first place, they did have enough sense to let her go before she could not be saved by anyone. We already knew that she had an aversion to anyone touching her rump. We saw that the Princess is having a hard time adjusting in her second full day at the kennel to all the barking dogs...we think it reminds her too much of the shelter where she was being held, but we also believe that she will adjust and will calm down once she understands that she will be handled everyday by people who will be gentle and loving, not using a catchpole on her as had been done at the shelter...that she is actually safe. We saw first hand that she gets scared when handled too roughly or too quickly. If you go slowly and gently with her, she is very obliging. If you show her tenderness and kindness, she blossoms. If you give her love, she will be a wonderful baby who will give you all the love she has saved up inside of her that the people who originally had her did not know how nurture. Our Princess needs someone who will give her the time, patience, tenderness, love, and security that she deserves. We know that after some work, she will come out of her fear and will turn into a very happy little girl ready to face the world.

4/3/03: We went to see her this afternoon for about 45 min or so. We took our slicker and rake to work on her coat more. She is really starting to look good...so much better than before anyway. The other times that we have visited with her she normally only put her tail up when pooping. Today, not only did she voluntarily put her tail up a few times, but she actually wagged it! She gets better each time we visit with her. It takes time each time for her to get used to us again, but she responds better each time, so that in itself is progress. We wanted to bathe her, but we haven't been able to get there early enough to be able to do that...must be done by 4 p.m. We’ll be taking the camera to get more pictures next time we go.

4/10/03: We were not able to get over to see the Princess again until today. That was way too long to go without visiting her. We'd made such good strides with her, but not having seen her for a week set us back a bit. We bought her a pig's ear at the kennel and gave it to her when we joined her in the exercise yard…she sniffed at it and licked at it, but didn't eat it. Of course, she wouldn’t eat any of the treats we’d given her the first time when we were present, so we are hoping that since she did show interest in it that she will eventually enjoy it in the privacy of her run. When we first got into the yard I took her for a walk around the yard, but she was really skittish at first. After a while, Michael took over walking her. We’d taken our slicker and rake with us again, so once we finally got the Princess a bit calmer and more comfortable with us, we went to work on her, getting even more of the nasty fur and dirt out. Michael walked her around the yard in between brushings/combings as she would get antsy after a while. As I raked her, Michael took pictures. Way too soon, one of the attendants came and told us we needed to say goodbye as it was closing time. While I took the Princess back to her run, Michael cleaned up the exercise yard and packed up all the stuff we’d brought with us. I took the pig's ear with us and put it in her run with her so she’d have it after we left. I said my goodbyes to her and when Michael came in, he said his. We will most definitely need to get over there to see her again in the next couple of days.

One of the girls there said that the Princess has been looking really good since we've been working on her coat. Genevieve said that Princess Fluffy is doing much better with her, but didn't know how well she's doing with any of the other attendants as she'd not asked anyone else. Genevieve has fallen in love with her latest charge with special needs. We also asked her about being able to get some play time for the Princess with Woofy, another Chow that one of our associates has boarded there. When the two of them are in the two adjoining exercise yards, they play with one another through the fence, chasing one another up and down the fence and doing the play pounce. Genevieve said they are soooooo cute when they are doing that.

4/12/03: We headed over to the kennel for a visit with the Princess today. We went equipped with a soft muzzle, shampoos, towels, Unicoat, rake, and slicker. Today was the day we were going to give her a bath…weather was warm and dry, so it was a perfect day to do so. Gineva fetched her from her run for us and brought her to the grooming room of the kennel. We got the muzzle on Princess Fluffy before trying to pick her up, knowing full well that she doesn’t do well with anyone trying to physically handle her. She was fine with everything until Michael tried picking her up. Then she began to panic as we’d expected, but after a couple of false starts, he was able to get her to settle down enough so he could pick her up and place her in the raised tub. Michael then tethered her in the tub and began spraying her down with the water. She was a bit frightened at first, but got over it until the water got up to her neck and head areas. Then she would begin to freak out a bit until the water left those areas and returned to the other areas of her body..

Once wet down, the shampoo was applied all over her, and then Michael began rubbing the shampoo in before he used the rubber scrubber on her. He got her head area as well as he could, considering she was wearing the muzzle, and when she was rinsed off, the water ran off very brown. The next washing was easier, and the Princess was calmer than in the beginning, but it was still evident that someone had at one time or another in her lifetime really done something bad to her. On a prior visit Gineva had made us aware that the Princess was afraid of hoses, so as we had walked the little girl around the kennel building, every time we came up to where Gineva was working, she would turn the water off to keep from scaring Princess. That was driven home while giving Princess her bath today. :{{ During the second rinsing, she was still scared at times, and the water still ran slightly brown, but not as bad as the first time. Toward the end, while I was using the video camera, she started “talking”. I was fortunate enough to get that recorded. ;-]

When Michael finished towel drying the Princess, he needed to pick her up out of the tub and get her transferred over to the drying table. She was squirming a bit, so he let her down onto the floor. Picking her up frightened her again, just as the first time. But on the second try, Michael was able to get her up and on to the table where he got her tethered once again. We turned on the blow dryer, and that scared her at first, but as long as it was kept to her body and posterior, she was OK; once it got up to her head and neck areas, she would panic and struggle.

When the blow-drying came to a conclusion, Michael began combing and brushing her out, and sprayed her down with the Unicoat that is a conditioner, deodorizer, and detangler. She actually put her tail up and wagged it a couple of times! Even after all the pre-brushing and combing we’d been doing during our past visits, there was still a lot of dead coat removed. While the Princess and Michael were busy, I went about cleaning up the tub, its surround, and getting all the hair removed from the tub’s drain. As I took all the towels and hung them up, Michael got her down from the table. She did much better this time. I gathered up all our supplies and we took her outside to the exercise yard where Michael took the lead off of her and allowed her to run free.

There was a lovely, friendly, playful Golden in the adjoining exercise yard. Princess and he decided they wanted to play with one another through the fence. They bantered about for a short while…unfortunately, I wasn’t able to capture their play on the video, but Michael did get some stills of them. We let the Princess run about the yard for a while before Michael put the lead back on her and walked her through her training paces again. After a bit, he brushed her a tad more so her coat could dry more before he let her run loose again. It was so delightful to watch her as she ran about with her tail up the whole time.

Her tail still is rather straight, but it actually began curling just a tad for the first time since we’ve started visiting her. Gineva walked by the yard while we were out there, and called out to Princess who went over to the fence and momentarily sniffed at Gineva’s fingers before running off to explore the yard again. A couple of times the Princess had come very near where I was sitting and she had no problem about my reaching out and scratching her…she never even backed up or shied away. Our visit finally needed to come to an end, so we packed up everything again and took the Princess back to the grooming rooms to be placed in one of the timed drying crates for a few minutes so she could finish drying. We spoke briefly with Gineva before leaving and let her know that the Princess was being dried so she could keep an eye on her and then return her to her run.

All in all, it was a very good day. The Princess appeared to be extremely happy about finally being clean and sweet smelling. We’ve always contended that one of the things that bonds the rescues to you the quickest is to give them a bath. They love being clean and feel so much better about themselves when they are. But it is quite obvious to us and the others who work with her daily that it will be a while before she is ready to be placed in a new home.

4/16/03: When we had been with the Princess Saturday in the exercise yard, I’d noticed that she was having difficulty urinating. So before we left I’d asked Gineva to keep an eye on her and let us know if it continued. Someone at the kennel called a couple of days later to say that she was still having problems, so I had set up an appt. for Princess Fluffy with our vet over in MD. We were going to have to go out to search for a missing Chow after the appt., so I’d brought one of our Chows with us to help in the search as we had the previous day. When I picked up Princess, she and our Chow greeted one another and seemed to get along just fine. I had taken a collar and harness with me so she would be fully clothed for our outing. When I got her into the van, I hooked her harness to a doggie seatbelt on the rear bench seat before we set off to MD.

I took Princess for her noon appt. and Michael met me there. When we weighed her, she came in at 38.5 lbs., 1.5 lbs. more than when she was first rescued from the shelter. As we’d thought, the Princess had a UTI (urinary tract infection), so the Dr. gave us some Amoxycillan for her infection, some Panacur for her worms, and while we had her there, we got her microchipped as well. We were really proud of the little girl as she was sooooo good for the Dr. With all the poking, prodding, and indignant things being done to her, she just stood there quietly and cooperated fully without a word.

When we left the vet, we started back for the kennel, but then decided that we would take her with us while we searched for Tyson, who had escaped from his foster mom the day before and was running loose in the Kingstowne, Alexandria, VA area. That would give her more time away from the kennel and more time with us. She didn’t need to be back there until 5:30 p.m., and it was around 1 p.m. when we got to Rt. 1 in Alexandria. So, we headed over to Telegraph Rd., picked up some MacDonalds, and got 3 extra plain cheeseburgers for the fur kids as a treat for our companions and an enticement for the runaway. Upon our return to the vehicles, we split one of the burgers in half, tore them into bite pieces, added some fries, and then gave the mix to the Princess and our fur kid. They gladly gobbled their treat all up and then we headed off on our search.

We switched vehicles as the A/C doesn’t work in the van and the day was getting rather warm. At first the two kids remained in the car with me for the trip through all the neighborhood developments. Princess rode in the front seat and seemed to be enjoying her travels. Each time I got out of the car she would try to take over the driver’s seat and I’d have to fight to get it back from her. At times she would lay down on her seat and lay her chin across the armrest of the driver’s seat. At one point she actually stepped over onto the driver’s seat, stretched over, and gave me kisses on the cheek. It was soooo sweet! One of the times that I’d stopped to put up more “missing flyers”, she had settled herself on the driver’s seat again, but this time she refused to budge, so we ended up sharing the seat until the next stop. When I stopped again, before I got back in, I opened her door, coaxed her back onto her seat, and then walked around the back of the car to the driver’s side and got in before she could figure out what I was doing. After that, I knew what to do if she got into the driver’s seat again on later stops. Eventually, Michael and I met up and he took Princess with him to walk over the ground in the area Tyson had been seen the previous day and earlier that morning.

After searching for a few hours to no avail, I headed back around once again over ground we’d already covered. As I approached the stop sign at one street where we’d put up flyers, I saw a lady taking the flyers down. So I pulled over to where she was and rolled down my window. She told me that animal control had picked Tyson up right there earlier that morning. I thanked her and called Michael to tell him the good news. The search was at an end. We rendezvoused back at Hayfield Animal Hospital where the drama with Tyson had begun the day before. After several phone calls, it was discovered that he was at the Fairfax shelter and Michael needed to get there before 6 p.m., and it was already a few minutes before 5 p.m. Then he would need to get Tyson back to Hayfield before 7 p.m. when they closed to drop him off for his microchipping, physical, and neutering to be done the next day. So, while he headed off to take care of all of that, I took our fur kid and the Princess with me to the kennel as it was getting close to her time to return.

I got Princess back in time, but had forgotten that all her medicines were still in the van that had headed to the opposite side of the county with Michael. So, I told the manager of the kennel that we’d return with the medication the next day. It had been a really nice afternoon with the Princess and it was hard having to leave her there.

4/17/03: We went to visit the Princess when Michael got home from work. It had turned cold again…dropped from the 80s of the day before to the 40s, with a quick little wind blowing through. We had the teriyaki beef jerky that I’d gotten to help entice Tyson the first day of his excursion “in the wilds”, so we decided to take that in with us for our visit with the little girl. I pulled out a piece and broke off schniblings to give her and although she wasn’t really in the mood to be close, she figured it wasn’t such a bad thing if she was going to get that really good smelling stuff I was offering. I finally got out the camera as I saw a perfect photo op as Princess Fluffy was soooooo cute! I turned over the feeding of the jerky to Princess to Michael so I could take advantage of her cuteness ;-] And of course, as you will see by the progression, she cooperated totally! She was tentative, but could be lured in closer with the treats. Her stance was just so beautiful.

After Michael had coaxed her in closer, she just stood there at his knees. In the first picture below, she stood there in anticipation, then she stood there anxiously, and finally she stood there with patience. :}

She finally got to the point that she figured out that if she got up on Michael’s knee she could pick up the treats from on his leg. As she got bolder, she was getting right in there while Michael tore the jerky into smaller pieces. She’d gotten back down and was waiting again, but then decided that Michael was taking too long, so she got up on the bench…she also discovered where all those treats were coming from.

Then she got back over to his other knee where he was laying the treats down for her. As you can see she became very comfortable standing there waiting for the next piece to be broken off for her enjoyment. When we finally needed to leave, the Princess went over to the bag, sniffed it, and looked at us with an expression of, “aren’t there anymore?”

Princess is doing so much better with us and she sure does smell great! Gineva had told me that she’s been playing a nose kiss game with the kid. Gineva will kiss Princess on her nose, and then she’ll say, “OK, its my turn,” at which the little girl will give her kisses back. All the other attendants have said that she has been doing REALLY well since the day we bathed her. We're hoping to have her out of there in a couple of more weeks. That should help get her tail up on a regular basis. Although I’m not certain it will ever be as curled as it could be.

After the Princess had been at the kennel for a month, we decided that she needed to get out of there as she wasn’t making as much progress as we wanted. And as long as she was not within a home situation, she wasn’t going to. So at the end of the one month we took her out of the kennel and placed her in a foster home. The total for one week of boarding totaled $124.25. Due to the wonderful generosity of several rescue groups who donated for the Princess’ boarding, and what we added, it was all covered. In the time that she has been in her foster home, she has blossomed! When she first arrived, she wouldn’t get up on the furniture, would run from the humans, and would NEVER eat if the humans were in sight.

5/26/03: The Princess is still a bit timid in some ways at some times, but she is doing soooooo much better than in the beginning. She will now actually eat and drink when a human is in the same room...looking at her even! She sleeps in bed with the rest of the family of humans and pets, and even curls up and uses legs for pillows, etc. She comes and goes all on her own through the doggie door and plays gleefully with the other Chows of the household. She allows herself to be forcefully, but gently, pulled down and put into a laying position when you want with out getting totally freaked out. She allows herself to be hugged totally and lovingly now where she wouldn't even let you get that close before...you can wrap your arms around her and she LIKES it! She waits for her foster dad to say goodnight to all the kids each night at bedtime and follows him until he gives her HER goodnight hugs! She jumps up on the gate and gets all excited when they return home, along with the other kids. She is just the best little girl!!! And she is doing really well with her visits to friends' homes and wants to play with their Chows. She is a bit slow at warming up to the humans, but she eventually will allow them to give her pats and scratches. She allowed her foster dad to give her a bath the other day without freaking out like she did the first time Michael gave her a bath while still at the kennel. She then allowed herself to be brushed out beforehand without any problems...in fact she actually laid down and let herself be brushed!

1/15/04: The Princess is still skinny, although not as bad as before. And she is a sassy little girl who thinks her foster’s bed is HERS, she likes to sleep on the pillow next to her foster mom’s, and she likes to curl up against her humans. She gets nutso at times and jumps and pounces all over on the bed WHEN the humans are trying to go to sleep...

1/26/04: We had a playgroup in the snow and Princess Fluffy was running around in the yard with the other fur kids having a blast! It was sooo funny when she was bugging one of the other Chows and he laid down in the snow, looking up in askance for help.

11/30/04: It is almost a year later, and Princess Fluffy continues to improve. However, she still has her skittish moments if you move too quickly toward her or try to get hold of her suddenly. She still will not come to you if she gets loose in the open...if she is in her fenced yard, she will come, but can't be trusted at all out of the yard...she will be history as she will run from you in terror. Anyone who wishes to adopt her will need to have extreme patience, gentleness, kindness, and love. We will not adopt her out unless we find just the right person who has a total understanding of how to deal with a frightened, timid animal. If you think you are that person, go to the Policies page.