Peachie
Updated 8/16/10
With apologies to Stuart Gorrel who wrote the lyrics and Hoagie Charmichael who wrote the melody in 1930… yep, that’s right… most of us remember Willie Nelson singing this song!
Peachie, Peachie,
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Peachie on my mind.
I'm say(ing) Peachie,
Peachie,
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear
As moonlight through the pines.
Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you…
A Georgia Peach comes into GRR:
I wish I had one specific story to tell about Peachie, but just overall she is a great dog. She is so very friendly and happy. She was even happy in the vet’s office, so much so that he was surprised that she was so ill (with giardia and heartworms). She is a little overweight, which makes her a bit bottom-heavy (OK, we are calling her Peachie, but Pear would be more like it), so she finds it a little hard to get into the car by herself, but on the plus side, the extra poundage also usually keeps her off the bed. I have been really watching her food intake and supplementing with green beans (which sometimes she refuses to eat!). Once the weather cools off and she can exercise, she’ll doubtless slim down faster.
Peachie is a lover. She will lick you and loves to be petted—24/7, if possible. She also loves her grooming time, especially brushing. She sits very nicely while being brushed. She will also wait her turn and sit for a treat. And I think she’d love stuffed toys if Ruby would ever let her play with them! Peachie picks them up and carries them in the backyard, but quickly gives them up when Ruby comes over (Ruby has sharing issues, obviously). She never chases the cats or bothers Tynor (my other Golden), but she and Ruby will play endlessly if I let them. They both love to drag the other by the collar in the house. Peachie waits to be invited inside or outside or even into the bedroom at night, though she seems to prefer sleeping in the kitchen or near the front door (unless she actually has made it onto the bed—then she stays the night). She is great around kids. She took a long car trip to Houston and did great. And she even managed her energy around my elderly parents.
Peachie will have her second heartworm treatment soon, I think she will do just fine; just keeping her from playing too hard will be my challenge. Still working on her pawing for attention and pulling while on the leash, but those are problems that can certainly be resolved with time and training.
I worry about Ruby feeling lost when Peachie finds her family, but I am concerned about myself too. She is definitely a doll!
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you…
Peachie… can she be on your mind?
Updated 7/06/10
“Plump gal in pound,” read the subject line on the first e-mail. The message originated in Dallas: DFW rescue had learned about an overweight female GR with entropion at a South Texas shelter. She’d come in with another Golden; he got adopted out, but she was moved to death row. DFW contacted a Rio Grande Valley rescuer, who bounced the message back up north to GRR—and then hotfooted it to the pound and bailed out Peachie. She’d been left in the drop box one night…chubby, suffering from a bladder infection, heartworm positive, and absolutely covered in ticks (200+). And then there was the entropion, a condition where the eyelashes turn inward and scrape painfully against the eyeball – ouch! Despite all of that, Peachie was sweet and friendly from the start. In fact, she’s so engaging that the family who kept her briefly after her release from jail very nearly decided to make it a permanent arrangement! But in the end, Peachie came to Austin.
After a stay at the vet’s for surgery to correct the entropion (she will be so much more comfortable now), Peachie moved to her foster home. The early report:
Peachie is a sweetheart of a dog! Totally housebroken. Loves to be brushed, doesn't even mind having mats combed out. She is smart and is trying hard to learn not to jump on me and to not paw at me for attention. She was initially very reluctant to go outside in the backyard, but she does better now. She fits in so well with Ruby and Ty and there has been no trouble at all with the cats. Whoever adopts her will be getting a real Peach!
More news to come as Peachie goes through her heartworm treatment—she’s scheduled to begin in mid-July and be all finished by around mid-September. Just in time to really kick up her heels and liven up her new family’s home when the cool fall weather finally arrives!