
Harley..actually
we don't know what his real name is or even if he is purebred, but this
is what we call him.:-)
He's around 17 inches
tall at the shoulder, and resembles the cockers from the 40's.:-)
Harley was about
10 months old when he was
found tied to a
door one morning at a vet's office about 20 miles from here, around 8 &
1/2 ago.
He was matted to
the skin, was almost starved to death, weighed maybe 14 lbs.
His eyes were so
full of infection his hair had matted into his eyes and he couldn't see.
His dew claws had
grown into his legs and his tail was long and appeared broken.
He had also been
a victim of physical abuse as well.
The vet got his eye
infection cleared up, shaved him down and contacted me.
We went and picked
him up to take home to rehabilitate to adopt back out.
Fortunately, for
us, he found his forever home here.
I took him to my
vet where I had him neutered and tested for heartworm and other things.
Had to dock his
tail and remove the dew claws as well.
Harley was terrified
of most people, fast movements, most anything.
Pitching a towel
across the room to the hamper, or fluffing the sheets out on a bed,
would cause him
to scream and run like he was being beaten.
I would look in
those big dark eyes and wonder what had he been through.
He was quite a talker,
and would carry on a conversation with you all day if you'd let him.
And he would sit
attentively and listen to you ramble on as well.:-)
He slowly learned
to trust people again, and is the total clown here.
My husband taught
him to sing, and also how to sing "I love you". It is something else.
He is a bit overweight
as he has an issue with food, since he was starved back then, but he is
a big boy, and is slimming down pretty well compared to how big he got
for awhile.
This is how the
HAWG was made part of his name.
Harley is our guardian
angel. I think we needed him as much as he needed us.
Whenever someone
is resting, sleeping and especially
if my granddaughter
or a small child is staying over, he attaches himself to that person
and absolutely will
not let anyone or anything close to that person if they sleeping.
He always seems
to know when one of us are down as he will stick by us like glue trying
to cheer us up.
He has his days
sometimes, that he doesn't feel well, we think he possibly may have some
problems,stemming from his past physical abuse,and he gets pretty grumpy,
not much makes him happy.
But he is usually
back to his goofy self the next day.
Of course living
out in the country, he's taken up a new habit and that's howling with the
coyotes that gather by the creek aways from us.
Which is I'm sure
fun for any of the neighbors to listen to before I make him come back inside.
His eyesite is getting
cloudy nowadays, and he doesn't see well, and often will get in a fight
with a stick or a toy thinking it's snake or something he has to protect
us from. We'll calm him down as he does have some anxiety issues from his
past life, and he's ok again for awhile. Do they make glasses for
dogs? LOL
He has a habit that
people find amusing (and unnerving sometimes)
Usually whenever
a person comes to the house a dog will sniff them. Not Harley, he gets
right in your face and looks deep into your eyes.
We tell them he's
"scanning your brain."LOL Once he gets his scan done he is fine.LOL
He is such a hoot
to have around and probably in many ways my favorite dog here.
He can always make
us laugh.:-)

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