Charlie Adopted!

PLEASE NOTE: This dog is a courtesy listing only and is neither connected to nor being offered for adoption through NMAF.


Charlie the chihuahua was spoiled rotten by his loving, devoted owner Lena. Lena and Charlie were inseparable for over 7 years. Unfortunately, Lena is elderly and she recently had a stroke which left her incapacitated and in a nursing home with no hope for improvement. Lena has no family in the area to take Charlie in; he is currently in a foster home but he needs a permanent home.

Charlie is 7.5 years old, neutered, and according to his recent vet visit weighs just under 8 pounds. He's a little heavy but he is also being treated for hypothyroidism which probably contributes to that. He takes thyrosin twice daily for the thyroid problem.

Charlie is skittish of new people. He is primarily an inside dog and hasn't had any other contacts with any other dogs and very limited contact with other people. It was just him and Lena.

Unfortunately, after Lena entered the nursing home, Charlie was essentially left in the house alone for a few months. Two friends of Lena's took care of getting him his food, water, and medicine, but there was no one with him throughout the day to give him any attention OR to let him out to potty. As a result, he began going in the house because he had no other option. His foster dad is working with him on this, and it's rarely a problem anymore.

He has bonded pretty well to Phillip, his foster dad, but this took a while. He barely came out of his carrier for two weeks after he went to live with Phillip. Unfortunately, Phillip doesn't want to keep him. It would be ideal if Charlie could get a permanent home without going through another foster home situation (obviously that's true for ALL the dogs) because he is just a very skittish little pup who has gone through a LOT of changes very quickly: lost his mom, lost his home, with a new owner now...

I think he would be best placed with a person/family where he is the only dog. He'd also probably do well with someone who is retired, or works from home, or is otherwise home a lot to give him the attention he needs to feel secure. Above all, he's going to need someone with patience to give Charlie the time to get used to his new surroundings and owner/family.

If anyone is interested in meeting him, I have Phillip's contact information (he's in Santa Fe). If someone is interested in outright adopting him, I'd be happy to bring him down from Santa Fe on a Tuesday.

Thanks for doing whatever you can for this little pup. It would mean so much to Lena to know that he got a good home.

You can contact Lori at lyrix28@mindspring.com if you need any other information or if you'd like to meet Charlie