Inspector Clouseau

Clouseau's story started when I was exploring Petfinder. It was 1999. I really wasn't looking to add another baby to the family, but there he was, this precious boy. He was in a nearby zip code. They said he was a Maltese and they said he was in need of a new home. I was still amazed that any of these beautiful babies could ever need rescue. To me they seemed such a precious treasure that I could not imagine the circumstance where they would be in need of a new home. My amazement grew as I learned how many times this loving little boy had been shuttled from from home to home. As we learned, he started with an older woman who became too ill to care for him, so he went on to live with her son and daughter-in-law. They were not really interested in keeping him and contacted Maltese rescue. He was flown from Virginia to Atlanta to a new home with a single woman looking for companionship. The problem was she worked long hours. He was there for about six months, but never settled in. She said he had anxiety when he was left alone for long periods. She surrendered him to rescue again. He went to a new family. He was there for only about a week before the man of that family complained that he didn't know how to play. That family threatened to dump him at the local kill shelter. Another foster mom stepped in and took this boy home. This was when we saw that picture. We went to meet him and fell in love. We were his 6th home in a period of just one year. He was clearly traumatized by so much upheaval and did not seem to settle in with us quickly. But he did seem to find the company of the other dogs comforting. It was near Mother's day and he was supposed to be my Mom's bed friend. He was for a while. But soon he became best-buds with Cloud. And he wanted to be where Cloud was. Of course, that meant he ended up in my bed.

 

Over the years, we came to believe that Clouseau's heritage wasn't quite Maltese. There were many characteristics that had us wondering what he might have been mixed with, when one day we saw a Havanese in show. The more we learned, the more convinced we became that Clouseau was in fact a Havanese.