|
|
SIGHT UNSEEN My Chihuahuas, Tigger (aka Tiny Mite's Tanner) and Chieka (Miss Chieka Bu-beeka Boom Boom Champ), share one thing in common - they both arrived in my life sight unseen. I grew up in a family of cat people. Our lives were ruled by a series of feline overlords. -- Creme (de la Creme), a blue point Siamese loved to terrify people by dropping from door jams. He also was well aware that my father was not all that into cats and took great pleasure in draping himself around daddy's shoulders. -- Thomas, my sister's grey tabby, who in later life took great pleasure in jumping up on our kitchen counter and pissing on the walls (bastard!) in the middle of the night. I know, because I caught him at it. -- Terry, orange tabby rescued from the SPCA. A lovely ginger kitty with an earth shattering purr. -- Dot (aka Princess Dorothea Blanche Champ) who terrified the neighbourhood with her total deafness and complete lack of fear. I once heard a repeated car horn and looked out the window to see that she'd hopped onto the hood of a passing car. She was peering in at the driver who couldn't figure out why the horn had no effect. Her other favourite hobby was to foil the play of the kids across the street by plopping down on their remote control cars. Small dogs entered my life quite by chance. I had the great fortune to meet a friendly Maltese when I was having my hair and makeup done for an Esquire photoshoot. The pooch hung out in my lap, quite content, while I endured the horror and indignity of false eyelashes, curlers, and at least an inch of pancake makeup. I was hooked and so began my search for a wee canine companion. My first thought was Bichon Frise, but I quickly determined that any white pooch would be in danger of becoming pink, blue, or even orange after running across a dyed toy poodle in the West Village. Enter the great Internet and the original Chihuahua Mailing List. It quickly became apparent that Chihuahua people are slightly bonkers. I knew that I'd found my place.  From then it was only a matter of time and through the list I adopted a retiring champion show dog, Tigger. When Tigger should have been sowing his award winning wild oats, it was discovered that he was the victim of luxating patella. On a day like any other when I would normally be sitting behind my desk pushing pixels in New York, I took a town car out to La Guardia to meet a flight from Toronto. Welcome Chihuahua No. 1.  A year later I'd moved from New York back to Canada bringing Tigger with me. Everyone knows (or anyone who has a Chihuahua knows) that two are better than one. When an email from a contact in Chihuaua Rescue & Transport brought Chieka to my attention, I knew that I had found a companion for Tigger. Purchased by a family from a pet store in New Brunswick, she was in need of a new home as she wasn't mixing well with the families cats and children. On another day like any other when I would normally sitting behind my desk pushing pixels, I found myself in another town car heading out to Dorval Airport to collect a second Chihuahua sight unseen. Chihuahua No. 3 (aka Busley Dante Pee-Pants Champ Powazek) was adopted from the San Francisco SPCA, but that's another story. 11/15/2007
|
|
HCHAMP.COM photos | words 10 seconds mirror mirror flickr sets about | contact |