Celebrating our area's four-legged, feathered and finned friends

By Patience Renzulli

November 10, 2009

Rosie and Eshan Shaw

Aphrodite is the goddess of love. Chinese Cresteds Rosie and Eshan are the recipients of some serious rescue love, from their award winning jewelry creator of national and international renown, LowerTown artist Julie Shaw of Aphrodite Gallery on the corner of 7th and Harrison streets. Here’s what Julie has to say about her special friends:

What made you think of getting a Chinese Crested? That is a fairly rare breed of dogs.
I had a friend who owned a salon in California who had a hairless Crested. He was the most insane dog I’ve ever seen. He’d go to her salon, dressed in studded collars and fur-trimmed coats. At the dog parks he’d take on the Great Danes. He knew no fear. My last dog was a Greyhound, but I had a lot of land in Colorado. For LowerTown, I wanted a small dog.

Did you think of getting a rescue right off the bat? Who knew you could rescue a purebred dog?
Well, I suppose it just seemed natural since I had rescued the Greyhound. I was not a big Internet fan (before iList Paducah was invented, of course).

Of course!
But I got right on the net and found Crest Care. And there was Rosie. I had never heard of a Powder Puff Crested. Her owner had gone through a divorce and she was being left alone in a crate for 12 or more hours a day.

Oh, that’s too much. Purebred rescue organizations are pretty careful about where they place the dogs. Obviously you passed the test.
The foster mom ran my driver’s license, and then she drove up here from Alabama with her daughter and son, three Chinese Cresteds and their other dog. They do a home visit on every adoptee to make sure you are who you say you are. They all spent the night and then they left, without Rosie, the next morning.

And Eshan?
Well, the foster mom and I became friends. She would stay with me if she needed a place when she was doing other transports, and we kept in touch. She called after I’d had Rosie for a couple of years and said they had gotten a hairless in. He was found with no shelter, his skin blistered from the sun and he was severely underweight. Starved, really. She named him Eshan (Hindi for “passion of the sun”) thinking that would make me want him more. I said I’d try.

How did Rosie like having a buddy?
She didn’t at first. She’s such a princess. He’s a total teenager — in a good way. It took about a year of Eshan trying, but finally Rosie would condescend to play with him. She’s still the one closest to me in bed, though. If he tries, watch out!

That’s why they’re called ‘bitches’! So you have done a great thing rescuing these two dear souls, Julie Shaw.
It’s a two-way street. I walk them four times a day, no matter what. Otherwise I’d be working on my jewelry. It’s so good for me. And Eshan keeps me company. Rosie’s more independent, but she makes my friends feel so warmly welcomed. They are really great dogs. You know, I’m the fortunate one.