Cookie isn't exactly the type of dog a child draws on her birthday wish list.
The two-and-a-half-pound Yorkshire terrier is 15 years old and blind. Her tongue sticks out of her mouth because she has no teeth. And when she was found walking and shivering in the rain at 4 a.m., she had three-inch-long nails and fur so badly matted it had to be completely shaved off.
But Cookie's unique looks don't stop her from being a poster girl.
Her tiny face helps raise money for Cookie's Old Toy Dog Rescue Fund, a fund for "old, ugly, un-adoptable toys," said Roy Daugherty, owner of Bark Avenue Pet Styling Studio on Hilton Head Island.
Last year, on her birthday, a party raised $1,000 for the fund. Daugherty said a similar party will probably be planned for this year, on July 15.
Cookie had been delivered to Daugherty on a day when the Beaufort Humane Association was closed.
Though Daugherty said he is not a small dog person, "There is no way you can turn away a dog like that."
Cookie hung around the shop for a few months before she was adopted by Bluffton resident Phyllis Yingling.
Daugherty said it was the perfect match, because Yingling was able to pay for Cookie's necessary vet visits, and give her the attention she needed.
Now, Cookie has flown first-class to New York, is passed around from lap to lap each day at Yingling's office, and was even a contestant in a "beauty" contest - the Bluffton Ugly Dog contest, where she won third place.
"She should have won, poor thing," Daugherty said.
And the rescue fund for which she is "poster girl" is for dogs just like her, because, Daugherty said, those over-the-hill, not-so-cute dogs are the ones that really need rescuing.
The dogs come from different circumstances. Some are found wandering around, clearly let loose by their owners. Others are given by owners who no longer want them or who can no longer take care of them.
"Don't be looking for this cute little toy poodle. If it's old and ugly and maybe has teeth missing, we may have one. It's just what we do," he said.
For more information about Cookie's Old Toy Dog Rescue Fund, call Bark Avenue Pet Styling Studio at 342-3647.
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