Dog of the Month: August 2016

We hope you’re loving our Dog of the Month program as much as we are. Here’s how it works: Each staff member provides a nomination for the distinguished honor, and then we vote. The highest vote wins! Any pup who visits us during the prior month is eligible. For August 2016, we have another double dose of dogs.

Archie and Charlotte

Rebekah Binns and her husband, Matt Merkes, are dog lovers through and through—they foster dogs and puppies, have their own “Menagerie of Misfits” (including the two dogs and a cat named Ruth), and Rebekah even wanted to be a vet when she was younger. But after she shadowed a vet in middle school and a sick puppy needed to be put to sleep, Rebekah changed her mind on the career and focused her energy on how she would care for and train her own dog. (She was raised in a single cat household.) In fact, she fell in love with Corgis because of the Corgi Flop video. (Who wouldn’t?)

And so, Rebekah and Matt’s first dog was Archie, a 10-year-old Corgi-Chihuahua mix, who they adopted from Ferry Dog Mothers In June 2013. “We took him on a little walk and fell completely in love with this pokey little dog. He’s kind of a grumpy old man—that’s the best way I can describe his personality,” Rebekah says of Archie, who she named after her paternal grandfather. “The name just seemed to fit his pokey personality.”

To give Archie a canine friend as well as add to their household, Rebekah and Matt decided to hospice foster a blind, deaf, and dying Pitbull named Max. After 16 months, Max passed away, and Rebekah was understandably distraught. “I was heartbroken after we lost Max, and we needed to fill that hole,” she says. “So we started fostering non-terminally ill dogs.”

In September 2015, Rebekah and Matt met Charlotte at the Seattle Humane Society. At first, they thought this 8-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier was a mix of several breeds. “She looked so funny that we nicknamed her Creature,” Rebekah says. “For my birthday, Matt did a doggie DNA test, and it turns out she is a purebred dog!”

When they first met Charlotte (aka Creature, Creatchy, and Baby Girl), Rebekah and Matt were going to start by fostering her. “She had a number of medical issues that we were hoping would clear up, including what we thought was early-stage liver disease and a herniated disc,” Rebekah says. “I spent three months carrying her around our house and trying to help her recover her mobility, but she would make limited progress and then backslide.”

In December 2015, they made it official and adopted Charlotte, and one of their first trips was to a neurology specialist. “Best money ever spent,” Rebekah says. “They told me that her mobility challenges were probably related to an old trauma of her spine. They gave us physical therapy to do with her daily, booties to help her grip the ground, and a special harness to help hold up her butt when she slips. It was miraculous and a big relief to know that we weren’t hurting her more.”

Charlotte and Archie make a good pair, although Rebekah admits that all three of her pets would rather be “only children,” she says. “Archie is anxious (that’s the Chihuahua), and he sticks to me like Velcro, even following me into the bathroom. He adores people but find comfort in another dog and will jump up next to Charlotte when he’s scared if a human isn’t available.”

Charlotte is absolutely a social butterfly and loves all people, especially women, and somewhat demands to be the center of attention, or at least involved. “We call her the Benevolent Dictator,” Rebekah says, “because she will do exactly what she wants, when she wants to, but will allow everyone else to co-exist as long as they don’t put up a fuss.”

The two pups both love to sleep, and Rebekah and Matt’s bed is their favorite spot. Archie is a food lover (unless it’s cilantro or raw potatoes), loves sunbathing, eating cat poop, stealing underwear and hiding it underneath the bed, and taking very slow walks and smelling every single thing. Charlotte loves all toys with squeakers. “She tears out the squeaker almost immediately as well as all the stuffing,” Rebekah says. “I just restuff the toy, and she does it all over again. Now that she can move about some, she loves chasing bird shadows. She also loves puppies and pretends to be their mama by licking them and playing with them.”

And both dogs know a few tricks. As part of her physical therapy exercises, Charlotte will back up, walk in circles, and walk through Cavaletti poles. Along with sit, stay, and come, Archie will dance, but only if a treat is involved.

Sadly, Charlotte’s neurological problems and liver disease has progressed, and she now has cirrhosis. Rebekah says, “We’re not sure how long we’re going to have this little girl with us, but we love her immensely and enjoy every second.”

We can tell how much you love and cherish your pets, Rebekah, and all of us are pulling for Charlotte. We are so happy to honor her (and Archie) as our Dogs of the Month. Thank you for your loyal service!