The Chronicles of Chalmette

[VoodooJoint]

I have a new rescue. Her story is sad, frustrating, upsetting, remarkable, scary and, unfortunately ,not over yet. Over the next few days she will be telling her story, at least what I know of it. Wish her well and keep your fingers crossed for her. She is going to need all the supporters she can get and as her story unfolds you too will get drawn into her remarkable and somewhat dramatic story.



Hi, I'm not certain where I am or what's going on. I know that there is a nice person, a person that doesn't hit me or yell at me, that seems kind and brings me food. She talks to be in a very gentle tone and sometimes in a squeaky high pitched voice. I like both of those and wag my tail--but then, sometimes, she reaches out her hand and I cringe. I'm expecting pain but she touches me gently and talks to me more in that soft voice. I want to wag but I'm so terribly frightened. Humans have never been nice to me and although I so desperately want a human to love me like I love them I know that I'm actually a bad dog--after all that's all I've ever been told.

The lady human tells me I'm a good dog and I like the sound of that. I wag when she says it and she gives me yummy tasty treats--but I still fear the hand when it touches me. I stand still and allow it though because I try to be a good dog.

The lady calls me Chalmette. I don't know what that is. It's not my name, I don't think the lady knows my name, but I don't mind if this lady calls me something different. I don't ever want to hear my old name again anyway. If I hear it I'll think about where I was and my last human. I hope I never have to go back there. Even though this new place is a little scary at least no one has hurt me and my belly is full. In fact the food never seems to run out here and it tastes so much better then anything I've ever eaten before. I want more and more but the lady says "That's enough. You'll get sick if I give you more". PLEASE! Don't you know that tomorrow you may forget I'm here and won't bring me food. PLEASE! Don't forget! Don't be mad at me! I'm sorry if I growled as I ate! I'm sorry if I snapped at you a little but you tried to take my bowl from me! Didn't you? I heard you say "Well sweetie, you're a bit food aggressive. We'll have to work on that".

What does that mean?!

Does it mean you won't bring me more food?

I'm sorry. Really. I know I'm a bad dog but I try to be good.

The lady left me alone and I crawled into the soft warm bed she gave me. I'm awfully tired. Such strange things have been happening to me for a while now and I find I'm hungry and tired all the time. It's nice to have someplace clean, dry and warm to sleep though.

Guess what?

The lady came back! It wasn't too long either. I've never been good with time but I know it was just a few hours instead of days!

She brought more food too!

I wanted it all, right away, before she started to forget to feed me but she wouldn't let me have it all. She sat by me and talked in her soft, gentle voice. She told me I was a good girl over and over. She put her hand into my bowl and dropped one piece of food. I ate it fast. She waited and I kissed her on the chin. She laughed and that scared me a little but she spoke in those gentle tones again and I felt better. She put another piece of food in my bowl and I ate it. She did it again and again, making me wait and wag for her between each piece. Soon I was licking her hand while it was in the bowl. Maybe this human's hand in my bowl is a good thing. She played silly games with my bowl. She put several pieces in but before I could eat them all she took my bowl away! WHAT?! I though she was nice? Then she said good dog and gave me my bowl back and it had the food still there with an extra yummy thing she said was "jerky". I like this game.

Once it was done she told me good dog again and told me to just wait until I'm ready for the hot dog game.

What's a hot dog?

She rubbed me and scritched me all over. I tried to enjoy it but I got a little nervous and coundn't help but growl a bit. I'm so very nervous.

The lady said "no" and I was scared but her voice was still so gentle and she didn't hit. I wagged to show her I'm sorry and she told me "good dog" again and gave me more jerky.

She left me alone and I've crawled into my bed. The night is chilly out but I'm so wonderfully warm. I haven't been warm in a while. I think I may actually be able to get a good night's sleep.

I hope the lady remembers me and comes back again. I can hear her not far away but then again I could hear my old owner too and she would forget about me alot. Please come back soon lady.

and don't forget to bring more food.

-to be continued-

[auburnmare5]

Chalmette is a great name and she is so cute! Who could be cruel to animals! They are the best.

[Sammy and Peanut]

What a great way to begin your story!

[fourboys4now]

Who in there right mind could be mean to that beautiful face. She looks like she'll be a sweet snuggler before long. Thank you for giving a patient and loving home!

[Percy's Mom]

Chalmette is a beautiful girl! You can tell in her eyes that all she wants in the world is someone to love and treasure her. Sounds like she is on her way to finding a wonderful forever home.

[bamby71994]

She is very lucky to have found someone like you!

[piggly wiggly]

Poor sweet girl.She is lucky to have found you. It's awsome how you have been able to get her to trust you already.
Will you be keeping her?

[VoodooJoint]

Good Morning!

I'm still here and so is the lady! She didn't forget me. She brought me more of the extra yummy food and played more silly games with my bowl. At first I forgot about the games but I quickly remembered that I should let her put her hand in my bowl and even take it from me because she gives me more good stuff and says kind things. I even let her scritch my back as I ate. In the beginning this made me nervous and I stiffened up because I though she might attack me but she didn't and I let out a little wag as I ate to show her I liked her.



The lady says I'm skinny. I know that! I haven't eaten very well and even when I do eat it's like something inside me is taking all of the food from me. This human says she can see my whole spine and my hipbones and my legs are like sticks. Can you see the bones in the picture? The human says it's not easy to see them because I'm black.

My last lady wasn't very nice to me. She almost never paid any attention to me and when I did see other people and wanted to play she told them I was vicious and the people wouldn't touch me. I'm not vicious! I'm a good dog and I just want love. Why wouldn't my old human let me play?

She also forgot to feed me a lot and she hit me.

Then one day she was gone. She tied me outside on a short chain. I had no food or water and no place to go to stay warm and dry. I couldn't even get away from my poo. A nice lady from nearby came and brought me food and water but I was alone and confused. My old human was gone for days and days and I was getting very scared.

A friend of my old human came to the house a couple of days ago. When he opened the door because the neighbor lady knocked on it to talk about me I tried to go inside but the mean man picked me up by my collar and threw me back outside. I whimpered and cried because it hurt and was so scary and I tried to wag to tell the man I was sorry I was bad.

He didn't give me any food or water when he left.

He didn't even say goodbye.

The nice neighbor lady apparently told my new, nice lady about me because last night she came, in the dark, and took me away. I was scared because I didn't know what a car was or who these people were or what was happening to me. I won't say too much about that though because I told you about it yesterday. If you remember, it turned out to not be so bad.

This nice human says that what she did was "Ill Eagle". Hmmm, I don't know what that means but I know I ate an Ill Pigeon once and it made me sick. She said she couldn't call the SPCA because since the "storm" the town I was in doesn't do anything about poor animals like me because they are understaffed and underfunded. The name of that town is Chalmette. I wonder if that's why she calls me that? She said that while what she did was "Ill Eagle" it was morally right. I remember she said to me last night, "Welcome to the underground Chalmette. Your life is about to change".

All I can say is; so far so good!

[VoodooJoint]

Originally Posted by piggly wiggly

Will you be keeping her?

No, I'm fostering her and will be getting her all of her medical attention. I'm just the first in a chain of people that will be rehabbing her. Hopefully the next person in the chain will be her forever home though.

I would love to keep her but I have four dogs myself and this little girl needs someone with more time to spend on her. She deserves her own human who can heal her,

As you will learn in the next installment, her road is going to be a rough one. Her troubles are far from over.

[Wheek Weak]

Chalmette you will never be hurt, neglected, or abused again.

I hope you'll get used to what we humans (those of us capable of it) call love, because that's what you'll get plenty of from here on out!

Thank you, VoodooJoint for helping that little lady. It makes me cry to know that she's in such good hands now. Good luck with her rehab and emotional healing.

[piggly wiggly]

Oh, I am glad she has a whole lot of people willing to help her. I asked only because if you were not keeping her, I was going to let you know of a rescue who might take her, but seems you have everything worked out for her witch is great. She looks to be half miniature pinscher, the rescue I foster for is a min pin rescue which is pretty much in every state and in Canada aswell. It is called IMPS ( Internet miniature pinscher service) it is an internet based rescue with a regional coordinator in each state along with many foster homes, they also take in min min mixes. Thought I would mention it incase, but I am glad she has a future to look forward to.
Great job you are doing with her!

the website incase you wanted to check it out is Internet Miniature Pinscher Service, Inc. (IMPS)
Even if not for her, but they may be able to help with behaviourist who know the breed and other issues. To me she deffinately looks part min pin, maybe mixed with chihuahua, or another breed. I may be wrong though, but her face mask is so distinct. She kind of looks like one of my males...

[VoodooJoint]

PigglyWiggly -- I think you are correct on her breeding and I may very well need the help of the rescue as nothing is concrete yet. All I truly have lined up is her vet care (which is likely to be extensive). At the moment I don't have another concrete foster or a definite home lined up, but you (and I) are getting ahead of the story.

Patience, there is so much more to tell and unfortunately it is not all good news.

[piggly wiggly]

Oops, sorry, will be patient.

[VoodooJoint]

I guess I should explain a little more about myself. I'm not an old dog, I'm maybe 2-3 years old. I'm not a big dog either. As someone else guessed, and the nice lady too, it looks like I'm half Min Pin and maybe half Chihuahua (or something else). I'm a little bigger then a regular Min Pin but I'm still a small dog.

I haven't dealt with many other dogs before and the dogs that the nice lady has here make me nervous. I growl at them sometimes because they make me feel cornered. I don't think they can get to me inside my little fenced yard but just to make sure I tel them not to mess with me. I especially don't like it when they come near me when I have the food.

The lady came out several times today and put a brand new collar on me! My old one was too small and was rusted together. The lady had to cut that one off of me the night she came and got me. She brought me food and played the bowl games. I think I'm getting really good at it. I actually gave her a wag today when she took my food away to let her know that I knew she would give it back (or give me something better). She told me "good dog" a lot. I know it's silly to put so much stock in humans but I just can't get enough of that!

This last time she came out to play the food and bowl games the other dogs were outside too. I growled and barked a lot and the lady would say "no!" WOW, I can't believe I forgot she was there! I would turn to her and wag and she would pat me and talk to me. Sometimes I growled to let her know that the other dogs were sneaking up on her. I don't want her to get hurt. She'd laugh (I like that sound now) and tell me that they were good dogs too and that they weren't going to hurt either of us. She said she was sorry that I couldn't meet them and play with them because I would really like them (and they would like me) but she wasn't sure how sick I was and didn't want them to get sick too.

I don't need them anyway. They just better stay away from my food.

The last dog that I had anything to do with was much bigger then me. I was experiencing some weird feelings and really wanted another dog to visit me...and he showed up. He was big and at first he was nice but then he got a little rough and he climbed on top of me. It hurt and I didn't know what to do. He stayed for a few days. Sometimes he was nice but sometimes he was rough.

I heard my old (mean) owner tell that nice neighbor lady that fed me when I was hungry and alone that the boy dog was a German Shepherd. I don't know what that is but he was a big dog. The neighbor lady looked concerned and left.

The lady says I'm pregnant. I'm not quite sure what that means but the lady seems very sad when she says that. I have heard her talking on that phone thing to other humans, making plans I guess, and talking in serious, scary tones about my being pregnant. She says stuff like, "she can't survive the pregnancy" and "when can we get her an appointment". My new lady says you can tell I'm pregnant in this picture. Can you?




I'm a little scared but I'm glad I'm not alone anymore. I can feel something isn't right inside me. My insides are feeling crowded and a little painful. I'm scared if someone (even the nice lady) touches my belly.

The nice lady says that the babies will be too big. She says that I won't be able to deliver them and that my uterus could rupture. I don't know what that means but I do know that the lady seems a little scared and sad.

She cries a little sometimes.

I try to tell her that it's oka