Our next featured dogs are two wonderful Dalmatians who attend our doggie socials and are owned by the FWB Dalmatian lady, Laura Melendez. We love to see these dals coming up the courtyard path and it’s fun to chat dogs with Laura. Woof!
Name: Harley (formal name: Harlequin’s Madness)
Nicknames: Harley, Queen Harley, Harley Girl
Owner: Laura & Luc Melendez
Age: 12 yrs old as of Sept. 22nd, 2008
Breed: Dalmatian / Black & White
How we met: My friend who owned the stables where I kept my horse (near The Zoo on Hwy. 98) owned a beautiful female Dalmatian named Dagney. She was such a wonderful dog that I had always told my friend that I would love to have one of her puppies, but I already had a dog. Anyway, when I had to have my old dog put to sleep due to illness, my friend found a male Dal and bred Dagney so that I and several other people could have a puppy. Dagney had 8 puppies, 1 boy the rest girls; 6 black & whites and 2 liver & whites. All beautiful. When the pups were 3 wks old my friend was called out of town for work and asked us to keep the puppies and Dagney until she got back. So we took in 8 puppies and Dagney into a 950 sq. ft. townhouse. Yikes!! But what fun they were. We read up on what to do with them and we carefully chose the one we really wanted to keep. This was Harley!! We also decided to keep her sister Squeaker too, but that’s another story.
Favorite treats: Anything that we’re eating if you please. She really likes cheese & hot dogs.
Favorite food: She never met any food she really didn’t like except peppercini’s
Pet peeves: Any closed bathroom door; being forced to go out when she isn’t ready to go and not letting her in when she is ready to come in.
Favorite spot in the house: On HER loveseat.
Tricks & talents: At a younger age she was considered the sit-up queen, but the hips don’t allow it anymore. She can still catch treats pretty well. Harley’s been through obedience classes and loved to do agility. Since losing her sister last year, Harley has slowed down quite a bit and we dote on her every wish. She is the queen.
Favorite activities: Visiting dog parks, and doggy events like Yappy Hour & the 3 Dogs & A Chick socials. Just sitting and getting rubbed on is a good thing at 12 ½ years old.
Little known secrets: Harley likes to stir up her ‘brother’ Baylis and make him bark so he gets in trouble.
Name: Baylis
Nicknames: Buddy, BayBay, Sweet Boy, Goofball, Dufus
Owner: Laura & Luc Melendez
Age: About 5 yrs old Feb. 2009
Breed: Dalmatian / Dark brown & White
How we met: PAW’s called us in January 2008, about a Heartworm positive, owner surrendered male Dalmatian hoping we could find him a place with the Tampa Dalmatian Rescue group. Luc when to check him out, and fell in love with Baylis during their first meeting. He insisted that ‘this dog’ needed us badly. He had been abused, left outside and not fed, so he was a mess. He was also not neutered. The group at PAW’s agreed to neuter him BEFORE his heartworm treatment and we agreed to take him. We picked him up after his neutering and immediately took him to U-Scrub-A-Pup because he was quite stinky. He was good as could be during what would be for most dogs a stressful situation but he still had to meet “The Girls”, his new sisters. The meeting went very well and although very submissive Baylis started to blend with the family. He went through his heartworm treatments just fine and within 2 months he looked like a different dog. He had been treated very badly but in the past year he has come out of his shell and is a truly wonderful member of the family. He has helped Harley through the loss of her sister, Squeaker and is very doting on her. He is a true clown and loves to make people laugh. Very dedicated, he barks (too much sometimes) at ANY perceived threat, but he greets every delivery person with a wagging tale. He still has some things to learn, but since he’s not going anywhere he’ll have plenty of time to learn as much as he needs to.
Favorite treats: He really likes gravy, cheese & hot dogs.
Least favorite food: He doesn’t like carrots or oranges.
Pet peeves: Any closed bathroom door; not being able to see the little dog on the other side of the privacy fence; being told to stop barking AND not being able to go with Luc wherever he is going.
Favorite spot in the house: His couch, his beds (yes he has his own plus the human’s beds), and right next to his humans.
Tricks & talents: Baylis loves to flip over and scrub his back to entertain people. The more you laugh the more he’ll do it.
Favorite activities: Visiting doggy events like Yappy Hour & the 3 Dogs & A Chick socials; Checking the back fence for the little dog; rough-housing with Luc on Mom’s bed before bedtime.
Little known secrets: Baylis likes to counter-surf. He also likes to grab and nibble or flip anything he can (except people) when he gets excited or frustrated. It’s very funny to watch.
How we met: It was my (Stefanie) 22nd birthday and David my husband was taking me on a trip to pick up a mystery gift. We were on the road for about an hour when I started getting restless, asking him where in the world we were going. I had to be at my moms for a small birthday party in 30 min. and knew we were not going to make it back in time so I was starting to get a little frustrated. I kept asking what the present was but he just kept saying “you will see”. Finally after almost 2 hours of driving we pulled up to a small house in the middle of no where. I though he was taking me horse back riding and was a bit disappointed. Had we really driven all this way for just a horse ride!? Then I saw all these little Yorkies come running up from the back of the house. A lady came out side and took us to her garage where I realized it was a puppy that was my birthday present. The breeder took him out of the cage and put him in my hands. He was the littlest dog I had ever seen. He fit right in the palm of my hand. He was sooo cute! It was love at first sight!
Pet peeves: He hates: fingernail polish and polish remover, bicycles, minty things like human toothpaste, pickles, hats, shoes, crying babies, and running. He is NOT a running dog and if you try to make him run he will sit down where ever he feels, even on sprinklers as you can see by the picture.
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