Notes from Mimi's new family: 4 October
2011
Mimi has been with me since mid December 2010 and it
has been an absolute pleasure to watch her bloom into
the happy, confident dog that she is today. When she
joined me, she was reserved and timid. She was
frightened by my two cats (with reason), and wouldn’t
make a noise. Her foster carer had said that she didn’t
seem to have a voice as she had never been heard to
bark.
After a couple of weeks Mimi recognised that my home
is her home and started defending it with full bark and
howl alarm when anyone walked past the front gate. She
has now settled down and, in typical beagle style, she
greets known visitors with a bark and a whole-body-wag,
and only “alarms” at unknown people entering past the
gate.
She’s really come out of her shell with other dogs
too, she’s been learning how to initiate play, and looks
forward to a “rumble” in the park with a Labrador pal.
She’s great mates with the cats now… I even saw her
cleaning the ears of one of them. They have a game which
they play when Mimi and I return home from a walk. I let
Mimi into the house with her lead attached. She walks
down the corridor while the cats play “catch and
release” with the lead. Mimi will turn around and lie
down facing them, barking and wagging until they give up
the lead and then turns around...... and it begins
again.
Mimi is now down to svelte 12 kg. She’s eager for her
morning walk and sniff around the neighborhood, preceded
by her morning face rub, and followed by her favourite
time of the day – breakfast time. Other than that, Mimi
has become my shadow. When I move from room to room, she
gets up and follows me and then flops down looking for a
tummy rub. A friend seeing this for the first time
thought that she had a epilepsy. “No” I told him, “She’s
just looking for love….. and knows where to get it”.
Julie
Mimi's new "mum" |