There was a lot of love being spread around in one of the lobby rooms in the Lodge at Ardmore Village. In a rocking chair, GeGe Crites gently rocked Annebelle, a black and white chihuahua wearing a pink collar.
“We’re just rocking,” Crites said. “She’s very sweet.”
Across the room, Peggy McCulloh was having a fine time with a chihuahua named George until someone else came up to pet him, too.
“George is a one-person dog,” said Patti Cain, who runs the Forever Friends Foster Care & Rescue Inc. with Noelle Harris. Monday’s event was an attempt to pair up senior citizen dogs with senior citizen humans in what the rescuers are calling their Seniors for Seniors program.
At the present time, there are five senior dogs available — male chihuahuas, one female chihuahua and one female papillon. All of the dogs have been sponsored by local businesses and are ready for adoption.
Sally Roberts and Ralphie, another black and white chihuahua, seemed to be inseparable that morning as some of the other dogs were being passed around.
Connie Proctor held Little Man, a red, long-haired chihuahua, while Martha Toliver brought her own dog, Happy, a brown part chihuahua, part fox or rat terrier, into the mix for some added fun.
One little face especially stood out in the crowd, and so did her tongue. The papillon named Pearl got plenty of attention for sticking out her tongue, but her foster mom said it’s like that because she has no teeth on the right side to hold it in.
“I’ve had her for probably a month now,” Loy Pruitt said of the brown and white, papillon. “She’s very calm. She’s real timid, but I’m socializing her.”
According to the rescuers, Pearl was left at Town and Country Animal Hospital during a holiday weekend at a side door that is rarely used. But now, she’s in good hands and hopefully will have a “forever” home soon.
Pruitt has worked with the local spay and neuter clinic and started fostering animals. She’s taken in puppies and adults alike, even pregnant females and cared for the mom and her brood until they were old enough to be adopted.”
Seniors for Seniors is sponsored through the help of local businesses, Cain said. It will cost $100 to sponsor a dog, which will pay for the spay or neuter, the vaccinations, a wellness check and a heartworm check.
