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Mr. Sweetie must have been loved somewhere in his past by someone.  I'd like to think he was someone's heart but tragic life circumstances separated him from his owner (at least it gets me through that part of my thinking). 

I started getting emails from all over about this 'old snarfy Chihuahua that isn't going to be adopted' so I had to go down to the local shelter to see for myself. 

The owner had been called several times by the shelter staff (he was chipped), but although they promised to come in and get him, they never did.  I went back to the shelter several times, hoping that he would get adopted but a staff member told me 'he bites and he stinks to high heaven'.  And then I got the notice that his time had run out... (sigh)...

I was volunteering heavily with a local rescue group, but they didn't want to take him on, saying how hard it would be to get him adopted because of his age (he was 10 years old according to the chip, complete with his birthdate and all!), health issues, personality problems, etc... So if I decided to pull him from the shelter, I was "on my own"...

As it turns out, his mouth was in SERIOUS bad shape... So when he ate or yawned, the pain was so severe, he released his anal glands...

My husband told me that we couldn't leave him like this, so off Mr. Sweetie went to get his mouth back in order... (Knights in shining armor don't always appear riding on magnificent stallions, ya know?)

Although he lost 27 of his teeth to get his mouth back in order, he does OK on a special soft diet with just the 7 teeth he has left.  The disrepair in his mouth had not yet gotten to his heart or other vital organs... and Mr. Sweetie no longer releases his anal glands either (what a relief!).

Mr. Sweetie had a bagful of 'issues' he brought with him as well... Many trips to adoptions proved pretty futile (under than completely stressing him out for the trip there, the day and the return home)... Most people want puppies and don't want to take on senior dogs for fear of rising vet bills...

Although Mr. Sweetie is small (less than 5 pounds), he wasn't a candidate for any home with small children because of the dual hip surgeries he'd already gone through... Being carried around like a stuffed animal just wasn't good for him, plus he was still a fear-biter...

Along with this, he suffers stress anxiety when in a crate or vehicle, fear of other dogs, fear of strangers, etc.  His coat was in really bad shape, and apparently he'd had both hips operated upon, so he also has arthritis as well. 

We got his mouth taken care of and after a few months of good nutritional food and Synovi G3, his coat is absolutely gorgeous now!  He could barely walk with his hips initially, and now he goes up the two-stepper into bed with me every night!  He has a special arthritic bed, and (now) loves to give kisses to us all the time! You just have to watch he doesn't accidentally catch your chin with one of those remaining 'fangs' for he can't always control his tongue really well with the huge loss of teeth in his mouth.

From someone who screamed when in a crate or kennel, he's learned the command 'kennel' and in he jumps!  He gets along well with the rest of the puppers, and has even learned it is OK to go to the groomers to get his nails clipped without clawing a new hole in the side of the crate or my truck door! 

Mr. Sweetie is still working on 'the world is an OK place to be in'... He prefers to sleep in small, confined places - I guess it makes him feel more secure...

And at his age, he does a lot of sleeping!... LOL... We call him the 'old man' around here between his sleeping habits, special 'soft' foods, his crankiness and unexpected irritability at times!... He has his good days and his bad - I guess like most of us - but no longer bites when the harness and lead comes off the hook for he's finally realized going for short walks is a GOOD thing!

Update: The other puppers have learned his peculiar behaviors and they've been pretty darn tolerant of him... I'm actually quite proud and pleased with all of them... Sadly, he's not but a year older than Peanut, but his life has been much harder than hers has been...

When we finally realized he was not going to get adopted and the whole situation was getting much harder on him to cope with, we finally outright adopted him, assuring him of a furever home how ever many more years he has... His health is not great at all, but you do the best you can with what you have, ya know?

At night, Mr. Sweetie has learned it's "OK" to lay on the valley between my calves, and the other dogs within an inch or so of him - that's progress!  It's taken a very long time (months and months in fact) to get to this point, but trust is something that takes time to build after all he has been through in his life...

There have even been rare times when Mr. Sweetie will allow someone else to share his bed and blankee... It must be awful difficult for one so tiny to fear so much in their world...

The barking problem has pretty much subsided now... We work on it (of course), and although he's still VERY leery of strangers, he is getting much better at handling them... He goes to the groomer for his nail trims and although it took us many trips just there (without nothing being done) before he would endure the whole situation without stress and anxiety attacks, we finally got through that as well...

He's learned some basic obedience commands (so much for not being able to teach an old dog new tricks, huh?) and even mastered potty training... He's never learned to enjoy the 'Chihuahua Penthouse' but I see him some days on the doggie bed outside, watching the leaves in the trees and the lizards as they crawl along the back brick wall, basking in the sun...

Yes, he's an 'old man', but he certainly has a lot of life and love still inside of him - at least in the capacity he has!