Meet Snoofy. That's right, no typo here S-n-o-o-f-y. She is a full blooded Tree-walker Coon Hound . Her original name was intended to be Snoopy, of course, but she lives in College Station with a 2 and a 4 year old and somehow that "p" turned into an "f." We frequently call her "Super Snoofer!" and she is just the most gentle and sweetest soul imaginable.
Snoofy knows her size and would never even consider jumping on or knocking one of my kiddos down, and we are very sad to have to see her go. She is absolutely no trouble, and we have no intention of just handing her over to the first person who says: "Hey! I'll take her!" Snoofy's story with us started like this:
The day after my Yorkshire Terrier died of cancer, my Sister came from Houston to visit me in College Station. As she was driving on the outskirts of the south Navasota area, she came upon Snoofy in the middle of HWY 6 and moments from becoming a become a Puppy Pancake.
She pulled the car over, got Snoofy inside, and brought her strait to my house. What a mess Snoofy was! She was so malnourished you could not only see her ribs but her spinal column as well. She was very weak and clearly had fleas and mange. Her hair was falling out and her skin was in awful condition.
It was obvious that at some point she had broken her tail as a puppy and the problem had not been addressed, and thus it didn't heal correctly. She had walked so much, the padding on her feet was worn away and bleeding in a few places, and her right foot had an abscess. We started the recovery process by giving her a bath and then feeding her little amounts of food every hour. By the end of the day, she was able to stand for a few minutes.
As soon as the weekend was over, we made an appointment for her to see the veterinarian at Welborn Road Veterinary Medical Center. He told us the obvious, that this was a horrible case of neglect. We scanned her for a micro-chip and sure enough one was there. It was time to make a decision about what to do.
The vet felt that if we took her to the shelter, charges would be filed against the owner, but Snoofy would run the risk of being put down because of the condition she was in. I called my friends at the College Station Police Department and came to pretty much the same conclusion. If we filed charges, it wasn't the best thing for the dog. Another problem was that if I tried to keep the dog, I would be stealing as the animal is considered personal property.
There was only one choice left. I contacted the owner and bought the dog from her. My vet then did a fabulous job of coming up with a treatment plan and Snoofy started on the road to recovery. Luckily she did not have heart-worms, and with in 2 months I could not believe what a beautiful dog was standing in front of me. We went back to the vet who was also impressed and gave her a clean bill of health. Mentally and physically this dog has just blossomed!
She has had to learn how to play and that has been a wonderfully fun process to watch. She knows she will be fed twice a day and she no longer scarfs her food down. She is very much of a hound dog an prefers to sleep during the day on the back porch. As I have ducks in my back yard, and they have no fear of her, I'm not sure she is much of a hunter. She is extremely intelligent, and I have seen her make a few half-hearted runs at them, so I am sure she can learn.
We have taught her to come and sit, and we had just begun the potty training process when we discovered my husband was allergic to her. He has asthma, and our previous dog was a terrier which had "hair" instead of "fur" and did not shed. Snoofy does.
We have tried regular baths and frequent brushing to no avail. My husband even started taking allergy shots to help the situation. Sadly, after visiting with the allergist, we have decided it is best to find Snoofy another home as she really wants to be with people and it is not fair to keep her as an outside dog.
She would be great with children or an older couple as she is not hyper and just wants to be loved and petted 24-7. She is also a WONDERFUL watch dog. She is not a bark-er but she will howl: 1) if it is late at night and someone is in the back yard or behind the house. (She has amazing hearing). or 2) It is suppertime, and I am taking too long to get her dinner to her.
If you are interested in becoming the permanent owner of Snoofy, email me. She will need a radio collar for when she stays outside as coon hounds can't help themselves; if they smell something they want to track it. A radio collar will remind her of where she is suppose to stay. She will also need to be kept on regular heart-worm preventative and receive yearly shots from the vet.
Thanks for Stopping By and Reading Snoofy's Story!
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