Misty Dawn Photography

Marc: “Do you realize we have FIVE animals in this house now?”
Me: “Yep.”
Marc: “You do know it’s all your fault, right?”
Me: “Yep…so?”
Marc: “Just sayin…”

Hehehe. The fifth four-legged critter to join our family that my dear husband, Marc, is referring to, is our newest doggie addition…..Peanut!

Peanut is a chihuahua (of sorts…he pretty much looks like a chihuahua but he’s got some dachshund in there too they think.), contrary to the fact that he looks like a little fox! Peanut came to us by way of my friend, Sarah, who previously worked with Peanut’s owner, who wasn’t taking care of him. Sarah convinced the owner to release Peanut to her and let her find him a good home.

The whole thing started while I was at Sarah’s office, getting ready to take her daughter out for some pictures. The girl had come by with Peanut to ask Sarah what she thought of him, as he wasn’t acting right and she thought the cat had scratched him. Ummmm….that’s no cat scratch, honey, that would be MANGE. OMG! He was a mess…he was worm infested, covered in mange, losing his hair, very malnourished and just plain miserable and in pain. Sarah and I looked at each other and almost started to cry! This poor little puppy (only 4 or 5 mos old) had been through so much and this wasn’t even the first time that Sarah had taken care of Peanut for this girl. This was her 2nd chance with Peanut after Sarah took him in for 3 weeks, a month earlier, when he needed shots and de-worming. Well, she obviously wasn’t at a capacity to care for animals….she had no money to take him to the vet and just simply wasn’t taking care of this dog, so thankfully she agreed to give him up.

These pictures were taken the day that we rescued Peanut from his owner.

Of course, I fell in love with him at first sight and with his cause. It didn’t take much convincing for Marc to agree to adopt him, after I told him the story (with tears in my eyes) and showed him the pictures. Sarah fostered Peanut for a couple weeks and took him to the vet on behalf of Spay and Save, who she volunteers with. They graciously covered his vet costs and I was excited when they accepted my application to adopt him.

These are pictures that Sarah took of Peanut, from the first time that she cared for him and then again when she was fostering him this time, before we adopted him.

He’s doing sooooo much better now!! After the long road of skin scrapings, Ivermectin shots, pain meds, and frequent medicated baths….Check out these before and afters:

When we first adopted him, one month ago, this is what his back and belly looked like – bald with only patches of hair left, that were still waiting to fall out.

These pictures were taken today…lots of new hair growth!! and only a teeny bit of pink skin left to turn purple (turning purple and then dark purple is part of the healing process before the hair starts to grow back in those areas).

Isn’t he doing great?! We just love our little Peanut! Oreo and Maddie are adjusting well…they weren’t too keen on the idea at first but they’re quickly accepting Peanut into the family. When Marc and I watch TV at night, they all 3 curl up with me on the couch. Its the cutest thing…one day I’ll teach that hubby of mine how to use my camera so he can get a picture of it!! haha

Peanut loves to play fetch….he will fetch a tennis ball (mini sized) all day long if you’ll throw it.

He loves to go places with his mommy cuz I take him everywhere I can, to socialize him well so that his previously neglectful upbringing doesn’t have long term damage. He has NO concept of his size – he thinks he may as well be a 50lb dog, the way he bosses around Bear – my dad’s full grown border collie. Got a pretty big mouth on him too, for bein so pint-sized!

So now that this post is so long-winded (how could I help it with something as cute as Peanut?!)…..please give a warm and loving Welcome to Peanut…the newest Pfeil critter family addition.

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Stay tuned for these posts to come shortly:

- an updated modeling shoot for an ambitious teenage girl who finally got her braces off
- Dina & Ryan’s spectacular Middletown wedding!
- Amy & Casey’s fabulous Old-Hollywood inspired Greenville Wedding!