Casanova

Let me introduce you to the animals in this photo. The bird is Lucy, our Senegal Parrot. The black and white pup is Little Miss, a Black Lab/Blue Heeler mix. The tan pup is the headliner, Casanova. We got him from a lady that rescued he and his siblings from the side of the road. When she advertised the puppies on Craig's List, she believed they were Chiweenies (Chihuahua/Dachsund). We later learned that they are in fact Dachshund/Hound, though we are not 100 percent certain what breed of hound. Because the puppies were rescues, their age is unknown too. We believe Casanova and Little Miss to be relatively close in age, and she is now six, turning seven in January.

When we first got Casanova and Little Miss, my husband and I were living on a truck, as he was a trucker. We had trips to run in Texas and while we were there, we decided to look for a companion. My husband wanted to find me a pup and I wanted to find him one. So, we both looked, without the other knowing. I found an ad for Little Miss online, told him about her and that's when he told me about Casanova. Since Casanova and his siblings were closer, we went to look at them first. When we got to the meeting spot, Casanova was curled up in the arms of the ladies daughter, sound asleep. He heard my voice, looked up at me and it was love at first sight! I took him in my arms, he kissed me, nuzzled up and fell back to sleep. It took me almost two weeks to name him, as he didn't show much personality other than a constant need to be held and cuddled. Until I noticed the pattern.

As I said, my husband was a truck driver. One of the DOT requirements for truckers is that they take frequent breaks from driving. Every four hours we would make a rest stop, either at a truck stop or a freeway rest area. When we stopped, we would take the pups out to do their business. They both did great learning to be on leases, not so great showing us what their names should be. Every time we stopped and took the pups out, Casanova would get excited when he saw women walking by. And boy didn't the women love him! They would always come up and ask to love on him, and he would just suck up the attention like a sponge! His name hit me like a brick between the eyes! CASANOVA, it screamed. He was a regular ladies man like the literary character he is named for.

He loves to sleep like a human.

This little boy has stolen my heart! He is my dog and I am his human! Every night he sleeps curled up against me, and if I am not around, he pines for me. When I am home, he is glued to my side like white on rice! If he wasn't afraid of taking baths, I swear he would try to shower with me!! I have only ever had one other dog be so devoted to me, and that was when I was four!

For the longest time, I was worried about how thin he was. We could count his ribs, and he had so much loose skin! We spoke to the vet and was told he needed to be on a high calorie diet. We changed the food he was on to help him gain weight but that didn't help. All it did was give him diarrhea. It took us almost five years before we figured it out. And that was after his son began having skin problems. We thought about the ingredients that was in the dog food we were feeding them. There was a LOT of grain! So, we decided to try a grain free food. After about a month, the skin problems were cleared up and I began to notice that Casanova seemed to be retaining what he ate. A year after being on grain free food, I noticed that his ribs were no longer showing!

A Healthier Casanova

Being on the grain free dog food was what Casanova needed to be able to retain the nutrients to help him gain weight! I was thrilled!! I had spent so much time worrying about this handsome little pup and now I didn't need to worry quite so much!

Casanova is my comfort in times of need. He senses when I am upset and will give me hugs and kisses and cuddle up, pressing himself into me. He really is the best dog anyone could have!

Treasure your pets, treat them like family and love them like you love your kids, because they are family!