From Dirt Dog to Cover Girl

Gloria was always part of a selection process. First off, she was born on Valentine’s Day – a good start for anyone destined for celebrity. Her mother seemed to give her preference over the others when it came to feeding time. Sadly though the mother’s owner did not want to keep the 4 pups and intended to dump them in the ravine. But the neighbour found out in time and took the pups away. She couldn’t keep them either, so hired a taxi to take them to the clinic of Dr Linares. By the time they got there the taxi driver had decided to keep two of the puppies, so in the end only Gloria and sister Luya made it to Hound Heights. Selection process working well!

It soon became obvious that in the Cuteness department, Gloria had it in spades. Nature had selected Gloria as a canine ambassador, and in case you’re thinking “Aren’t there enough cute dogs already?” my answer is “Not as long as there is one case of animal abuse in the world”.

Pretty soon we got a call from someone planning a trip to California and willing to take a couple of puppies to go in the AWARE stateside adoption program. We chose Gloria and Xinka – a rescue from our local village, Sumpango. Stuffed in a Sherpa bag under the seat, Gloria and Xinka made it to their Aunt Sue’s house in San Francisco, from where it didn’t take long for either of them to find a loving home.

Meanwhile we were making arrangements for Gloria’s sister Luya to fly to California also. Thanks to adminstrative procrastination at the airline check-in desk it took no less than three attempts to get Luya in the air. Finally – two and a half months later - she made it to Aunty Sue’s and was also adopted very quickly – in a home just down the street from her sister Gloria! One can imagine the wagging that went on when the two siblings were reunited, all those miles from a patch of dirt in Central America!

From here it was but a short hop, skip and quirky grin to win the coveted Bark! cover girl prize, and last November Gloria’s – now known by the swankier name Charlie - celebrity destiny finally came true. As you can see from the cover shot, Gloria knew where she was going all along!