Four Years Later
Carney, a 15 pound silky, is a puppy mill dog that was rescued by Mr. Jim Carney along with 17 other dogs about 4 years ago. He was flown to Florida and temporarily housed with a lady name Mimi in Fernandina Beach until he and the other dogs could be evaluated by a vet, updated with shots, treated for any ailments and/or diseases, etc.
After a few months of getting the rescues back on their feet, Ms. Mimi and her foster friends held an adoption day at Petco in Jacksonville, FL off of Atlantic Blvd.
Dudley, my husband, went to get food at this Petco for our 2 yorkies and came back home and said, “I like to have never gotten out of that store because they were having adoption day and they had a lot of yorkies there and one of them look so pitiful. That dog had the prettiest eyes!” I jumped up and said, “let’s go look at them.” He replied, “darn, why did I open my mouth.” So we went to Petco and all the dogs were up and walking around and responding to all the people but one dog. He was lying in his bed and couldn’t make eye contact with anyone. It happened to be the dog with the pretty eyes, Carney, who by the way had two brothers there that day as well.
We took him from the cage to hold him and I’ve never seen a dog so scared and withdrawn. He hid his head under my husband’s arm and never faced us. Of course we felt compelled to do something to help him. So we completed the adoption papers, set up a time for a house visit to get cleared for adopting Carney and our journey began.
We drove 40 miles to Ms. Mimi’s to get him. He was so sad to leave her. I could tell he was very connected to her. But I was just sure we could make him a great home. So as we arrived to our house, he ran immediately to a corner in the family room. That’s where he stayed, so that’s where his bed was placed and still is to this day. Well at least one of his beds. The other bed is located in the vanity area under my sink in our bathroom off of our bedroom close to us. He tends to love cozy and small hidden areas.
At first he was such a challenge because no matter what we normally did with our other dogs, he would never respond so my “how to work with a rescued puppy mill dog” research started. When we would walk him, if there was even the smallest of a stick lying on the street, he would stop and pull the opposite direction to try and get me to go back toward the house. Needless to say our goal the first few weeks was walking to the end of our driveway and back. Then to the end of the block and back. Next goal was to the cul-de-sac and back for the next several months. And when we would approach a stick, a garbage can or sack or anything sitting by the curb on the street, Carney would just freeze so I started walking between Carney and the item on the street. After a few weeks, he eventually overlooked anything that was on the street when we would go on walks. Now he walks on the beach and is “Mr. Social” and even walks in the water sometimes and loves it.
He didn’t bark for the first 2 years, and we thought the puppy mill owners had done something to his vocal cords. But after two years, one night my son came home late from work and when he walk through the door at an odd time of the night, Carney started barking and we were all astonished. Now he barks at my husband about 6 pm every night to get his nightly treat of cheese. It’s the funniest thing. We both just laugh when he does it.
I take all 3 dogs to the groomer every 3 weeks, and now Carney leaps out of the car and runs right to the gate that leads to the path to Ms. Sharon’s back door. He truly loves her. He loves the beach. He loves walks. He loves his greenies first thing in the morning and his cheese snacks late of afternoon. He loves tossing old socks in the air and pouncing on them like a cat. He loves running in circles as fast as he can. He loves taking care of his 5 lb. sister Bebe and playing with his brother Booboo. He loves lying on his back in his warm bed. Carney loves loving life, and it could and would not be possible to do all these things if it weren’t for that one flight, that one decision, that one call to Jim Carney, a team member of Pilots and Paws. Mr. Jim is the one who made this all possible for Carney (yes, he is named after Jim) and many, many other dogs who were stuck in a kennel, who had never walked or barked or seen a beach or ate cheese or ran in circles. Thank you Mr. Jim for saving our Carney!
Sheryl
Jacksonville, FL
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