Mickey--what a boy!!

Mickey is shining--he eats like a little horse and runs like a thoroughbred! His trot is just the cutest thing I have seen in a long time--I will try to video it and attach it here--you have to see it to believe it. I was having a great deal of trouble with Mickey barking barking barking--seems the longer time went by, the longer he would bark. Finally, I was just about at my wits' end with what to do about it and I called a friend from another rescue group. She informed me that what I was trying with him was possibly rewarding him for his barking--UH OH!! That's not what I wanted to do at all. She then suggested possibly using a squirt bottle which piqued my memory about the THREE citronella-spray collars I have stored here. I could not believe that I forgot about them. Well, the squirt bottle with a stern, "Quiet!" was seeming to work well, but at 11:30 PM, I was not ready to sit up and practice discipline with the squirt bottle, so I attached the citronella collar to his neck. It only took him two or three barks and squirts for him to get the message that he needed to remain quiet. He's been such a good boy since then.

He is gaining strength by leaps and bounds, and tonight he communicated to my husband that he wanted to walk again. It was terribly hot and humid here today, but this 15 year-old Silky Terrier walked as far and as fast as my 8 and 9 year-old Bichons. Murphy came home with his tongue hanging way out--Mickey could have gone for more!! What a boy!! I cannot believe we have him in "Yorkie Hospice"--he could be ready to go to a forever home soon if someone wants to give him a place for the rest of his life.