03/12 Sadly Charlie has passed away. He had a seizure last week which took its toll and he passed away in his fosterers arms earlier today. Our thoughts are with his fosterers who gave him such a fantastic and stable home for him to end his days in. Sleep tight little man.
Charlie is an 12-year old Chinese Crested Powderpuff, who came into the care of Oldies Club in 2014. Earlier this year we appealed for a very special person or couple who could offer Charlie a permanent foster home. Charlie needed a pet-free and child-free home with a garden, where he could settle and enjoy a peaceful retirement.
Following this appeal, we were delighted to find a foster home that could provide Charlie with the environment needed to keep his stress levels to a minimum and he moved there a few months ago. We decided that Charlie should be placed in our sponsor dog scheme, meaning he will remain in his foster home on a permanent basis, with the charity paying his vet bills for the rest of his life.
Butter wouldn’t melt!
Charlie experienced some upheaval as he was moved from different homes to kennels and back, which is very stressful and a lot to take on for this insecure little one, especially as he is deaf.
Charlie needed a special home to achieve security in his life and keep stressful situations to a minimum. In the home, he’s a loving, cuddly, playful lad. He is totally clean, non-destructive and very easy to care for – quite the perfect house guest. However, he can become very stressed on walks and, in part due to his deafness, it can be difficult to distract him.
Charlie is a bit of a magpie and likes to hide things in his doggy bed. He loves his toys and food, adores being tickled and patted, and he loves a big cuddle on your knee. Charlie is good in the car and enjoys travelling.
Charlie and his new toy collection (Tiger is his favourite!)
In his forever foster home, Charlie has a lovely garden to enjoy, where he can burn off some energy, toilet and run around with his toys, which is a much more pleasant experience for him than being outside the home.
Charlie is an active and physically healthy little boy. He was a bit upset to be leaving his previous foster home, but soon settled into his new one. He wasn’t keen on the garden at first and was taken outside on a harness and lead. Now he has realised it is *his* garden, he loves it and has spent lots of time out there with his fosterer, enjoying the sunny weather (when we had it!).
Charlie, enjoying his new garden :-)
Although Charlie is not the happiest of dogs on walks, he loves being in the car and went on a journey of about an hour, where he just slept on the back seat. His fosterers took him out of the car for a little walk on their arrival, but Charlie just couldn’t wait to get back into his seat, bless him. His fosterers take care to keep his walks as peaceful as possible for everyone’s sake, although he doesn’t seem bothered by traffic and he ignores passing strangers.
Charlie has a bed upstairs to sleep in overnight and several downstairs to choose for daytime snoozing. He sleeps in his bed upstairs until about 4am when he leaps onto his fosterers bed and stays there until everyone gets up a few hours later.
Charlie fosterer says he is a lovely little dog and they are delighted to have him in their family. New people coming into the house need to ignore Charlie initially and allow him to go to them in his own time, if he wishes. When he met his fosterer’s son, Charlie was straight onto his lap to enjoy a fuss.
Charlie enjoying a fuss in a previous foster home
Charlie has visited the vet for routine treatment and he behaved impeccably. He was found to have cataracts and a heart murmur, which isn’t a concern at this time. The vet said he was a lovely chap.
Charlie has put on a little weight since arriving in his forever foster home. Probably muscle in part as he has been spending lots of time in his large garden and going out for some walks, but hopefully it is a sign that he is feeling settled too.
If you would love to offer a home to an oldie but your circumstances aren’t suitable, perhaps you would be kind enough to sponsor Charlie, or one of the other special oldies we are caring for in our sponsor dog scheme.