Abbie Normal Carpenter Stewart

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Abbie with hip wrap

Our latest addition to the farm family – Abbie.  She is a long haired Chihuahua that was relinquished to the clinic by owners who could not afford her care after she was hit by a car.  The poor little thing had a dislocated hip and was in a lot of pain for some time.  Even with the pain meds on board she gave a little yelp whenever we had to pick her up for treatment.  She remained at the clinic for almost 3 weeks and I fell in love with her.  Based on how she behaved at the clinic and in the cage, I thought she might turn out to be a pretty good little dog.  I took Todd in to visit her a few times and he really liked her also, so we brought her home for a “trial” and to see if the other dogs would accept her.  I wasn’t worried about Ellie at all, but Bob likes things to stay the same and has never really liked other dogs to visit. Well, I knew once I had Abbie at home there really wasn’t going to be a “trial” period – she would be ours, come what may with Bob and Ellie.  As it turns out, little Abbie is the aggressive one and we have to keep her from biting both Ellie (who won’t retaliate even if bitten) and Bob (who just ignores her but will bite back if she starts something).  She is so small and I am afraid that Bob could really hurt her if things get out of hand.  They have had 2 unpleasant encounters so far which I was able to break up right away, but we can’t leave them together unattended for the time being.  Abbie has to be on a leash or in her little cage when the others are in the same room.  We are trying to walk them together as a group and have them around each other under supervision so I am hoping that things will improve with time.  Abbie has not yet been spayed so perhaps that surgery will mellow her a bit as well.  Other than the pack problems, she is an adorable little dog who has had no accidents in the house, stays in her cage whenever necessary without crying and sleeps soundly all night without making a sound.  Her hip seems completely fine now and she likes to dance on her two hind legs and she likes to crawl – it’s so cute! Oh, her name is in appreciation of Igor (it’s pronounced “Eyegor”) from the Mel Brooks movie “Young Frankenstein”.