One of my most rewarding nights each month is when I sit down to write the latest 'Barking Buddies' and introduce the readers to another of our canine community.
I feel very fortunate when a dog’s owner permits me to photograph, talk about, pet and often cuddle their pooch. I’m quite selective about what dog makes the short list, with some fairly strict criteria that must be met. Not only must the dog be pleasing to be around but the same must hold true for the owner.
OK, that’s the strict criteria out of the way. I try to avoid writing about the same type of breed repeatedly and after almost two years, that’s been accomplished.
This issue might be the most unique and moving story so far.
I recently met a new resident to our lovely area and as luck would have it, Calvin is a dog owner. He ticked the box as “pleasing to be around” and so did his super sweet dog Callie, a two-and-a-half-year-old Spitz/Terrier mix.
The Spitz breed is varied and can refer to more than 50 different types of dogs but small or large, the common trait is a pointed muzzle and typically a curved tail.
The Terrier breed are even broader in their traits and characteristics and in this case Callie’s lineage is not critical as her journey. She was born and started her life in Iran, where dogs, outside of working farm animals, can be frowned upon and owners subjected to fines and/or backlash.
Callie stands about 10 inches high and probably weighs about eight pounds. That’s an accurate guess as she gladly lets me pick her up and hold her. Calvin says she doesn’t bark at all until she sees a deer out the window. She shakes a little bit and is quite timid but slowly strolls towards me wagging her tail.
It would take less than a second to dog sit her for a night or two, any longer and I would struggle to give her back, she is that lovely.
Through an amazing organization known as Loved at Last Dog Rescue out of Langley, Calvin made an inquiry online about adopting a small dog.
A few days later he was telephoned to say there was a sweet little dog coming in from Iran and off he went where he met at a gas station parking lot with the lady who picked up Callie at Vancouver InternationaI Airport.
We know many people who have acquired lovely little dogs, typically from Mexico, known as “rescues”. I would never trivialize the unconditional love that they need and the challenging life they may have had in the barrio but Callie really is a rescue in the truest sense of the word.
Welcome to Canada, sweet Callie.
Bill Flower is an avid dog lover and proud Parksville resident
