San Diego’s unofficial canine ambassador recovering

By Donald H. Harrison
Photos courtesy of Karen Beth Pearlman

 

SAN DIEGO – One might describe Chloe, an 8-year-old cocker spaniel, as San Diego County’s unofficial canine ambassador. For years, her owner, Karen Beth Pearlman, has been posting Facebook photographs of Chloe visiting various San Diego County venues, from the beach, to the valleys, to the mountains, to the deserts.

So popular is Chloe that when Pearlman announced the news that the dog needed a knee operation on her back left leg, an admirer in South Africa, Charmaine Oosthuizen, suggested a “Go Fund Me” campaign to help defray expenses, an idea which quickly caught on among Pearlman’s Facebook followers. In two days, $5,000 had been raised for the welfare of the peripatetic pooch, and as of April 16, that figure had climbed to $5,626, with contributions coming from 103 people since April 6, the day of Chloe’s surgery.

Pearlman was at first embarrassed by the gesture, but later acquiesced to the pleading of friends who told her that Chloe had many fans around the world, who enjoyed seeing her explore San Diego County’s varied scenery. One correspondent wrote to Pearlman that photos of Chloe are great mood picker-uppers. Whenever she’s feeling sad, the correspondent said, she likes to find photos of Chloe. Some picture her romping through flower fields, or being silhouetted by the sunset, or gazing in queenly fashion at iconic San Diego venues.

 

It had only been a week since Pearlman’s 14-year-old cocker spaniel Mattie had passed away in 2010 when a volunteer at the El Cajon Animal Shelter, Donna Walters, telephoned Pearlman to tell her there was an 18-month old cocker spaniel at the shelter that she just had to see.

“Chloe was very ill with the mange,” remembered Pearlman. “She had bloody sores all over her head and neck and they were oozing. … The people who had her before me, a woman and her 8-year-old girl, couldn’t take care of her. So they dropped her at the shelter.”

Although she was still grieving for Mattie, Pearlman’s heart went out to Chloe. She decided to bring her home and nurse her back to health. “She was so sick with this that she couldn’t get spayed or any vaccinations because her immune system wasn’t strong enough to support that. It took two years before the mange finally was controlled.”

However, there was one birth defect that Karen knew might become worse later. Chloe had medial patella luxation, a hereditary condition in which the knee slips out of place. “There are different grades of this, 1-4,” Pearlman related. “During 1 and 2, I was able to manipulate the knee over so it went back in place, but by grade 3, and she was almost to 4, when the knee is moved over, it goes right back. So the idea is to move it so it will stay fixed. They put a pin in there. While they were doing that, they found she also had a torn cruciate ligament, which in dogs is called a cranial ligament. So they had to do that too.” Both surgeries meant Chloe, the avid San Diego County explorer, needed to be sidelined for six months. She’s not supposed to run nor jump, and Pearlman and friends Ralph and Carol Dunbar keep close watch over her.

As a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Pearlman covers city councils and school boards in such East County cities as El Cajon, La Mesa, and Santee as well as school boards in South County cities such as National City. On occasion, to the approving smiles of city officials, she sometimes would bring Chloe on assignment with her. The dog is well behaved, has soft, appealing cocker spaniel eyes, and is a magnet for anyone who can’t resist petting a friendly animal. On one recent occasion, when the National School District board was considering revoking the charter of a particular school, “it was tense and heated, but people were petting her and that defused a lot of stress that was in the air.”

Over the years, Facebook photos of Chloe have received many thousands of likes, according to Pearlman, who thinks she knows why her dog is so popular.

“She is well loved. I think her joy for life and her adventurous spirit when we are together are things that people relate to and enjoy,” Pearlman suggests. “People who don’t live here get to see things that they wouldn’t otherwise see; they see it through her eyes. I think that is part of the connection with her.”

It helps that Pearlman is very much an outdoorswoman. “My hobby is hanging out with my dog and doing the things I like to do like hiking, walking, taking photos and going to the beach,” Pearlman says. “Chloe accompanies me in enjoying the things that are around us.”

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com