Meet Cahaba Heights’ Adorable Canine Mascot, Callie Heights!
A savvy-stray-turned-community-mascot, Callie Heights is a precious pup who has stolen the hearts of her Cahaba Heights neighbors. Get to know this adorable and well-loved community pet! Image: Scott Renshaw
Cahaba Heights residents have seen Callie roaming around for years. The story goes that she was adopted by a local family but kept breaking free from their fenced-in yard, always returning to the strip mall behind Doodles on Cahaba Heights Road. It happened so frequently that the family decided to let Callie out for good. They, along with the community, continued to take care of her as best they could, making sure she had food and water, as well as offering her various dog beds, which Callie rarely used.
A runner with impressive street smarts, Callie prefers to keep her distance from people, but that doesn’t stop Cahaba Heights from embracing her as one of their own. Freddie Delchamps from Alabama Biscuit Co., says the community keeps an eye out for her, but they know she can handle herself. “At first, we worried she’d get hit by a car as she crosses the road a lot,” he tells us. “Pretty quickly, though, we realized there was probably nothing to worry about — you can see her look both ways first, so she’s doing something right.”
In fact, doting community members made a Facebook page for Callie, Callie Heights, for folks to share Callie sightings, stories, as well as request support to ensure Callie has what she needs to live her best life as she sees fit.
A Dog Whisperer Moves In
As fate would have it, Scott Renshaw, an animal lover and true dog whisperer, moved his antique shop, Postmark Paris, from Mountain Brook to Callie’s strip mall last year, and neither his nor Callie’s life has been the same since. The pandemic had forced Scott to shift from his successful hair salon of 30 years to pursue another passion, French antiques. He immediately noticed Callie as he was getting ready to reopen Postmark Paris at the new location.
Scott is no stranger to animals, having 16 dogs of his own, including seven standard poodles, along with two horses. “So when I moved in,” Scott says, “I’m like, I’m gonna win this little dog over.” He knew Callie’s reputation for being a runner and evading all human interaction, but he wasn’t deterred.
There happened to be a cold snap the very first week Scott moved the shop, so he set up a crate and covered it with blankets in hopes of giving Callie a warm place to sleep. “I put a rotisserie chicken in there, and I stayed until 2 a.m., trying to get that dog somewhere warm,” Scott recalls, adding that he and others had also tried to offer Callie a bed with a heating pad. After sitting there for hours that night, Scott started thinking, “We’re both going to freeze to death out here.”
The pair made it through that night, and Scott continued building trust with Callie, spending hours on the sidewalk in her vicinity. Slowly but surely, Callie warmed up to Scott, eating from his hand and even letting him scratch her ear.
A Special Connection
These days, from the moment Scott arrives to Postmark Paris to the moment he leaves, Callie is around, never letting him out of her sight. “Every blue moon she’ll be missing,” Scott says, “And I’ll go out there and look for her and she always appears as soon as I show up out there.”
He’s even developed a daily ritual with Callie. “In the morning, I give her a treat. In the evening, when I leave, I give her a treat. If I don’t get in my car and leave quickly enough, she’s gonna follow me in the car, so I have to put a treat in her bed. As soon as she finishes one treat, she runs back to the bed to get her backup treat. We are very trained here,” Scott says with a laugh.
Scott says that he remains the only person in town whom Callie will come to, and it certainly seems as though he has earned the privilege. Still, Cahaba Heights continues to love on Callie, whether by dropping off a new Greenie at Scott’s shop (Callie’s favorite!), posting photos on the Facebook page, or even bringing Callie freshly cooked chicken every week, as Cahaba Heights resident Joyce Lichtenstein does. “She is well loved,” Scott assures, “I feel in awe by how many people know this dog. People will come into the antique store, and they’re like, ‘Callie looks so good!’”
The Summer House
Of course, the summer months brought yet another concern for Callie’s well-being. During his first summer in Cahaba Heights, Scott did what he could to keep Callie cool and comfortable, but something had to give. “My power bill was ridiculous because I had a fan blowing cool air out the front door, and we were burning up inside,” Scott recalls, “So I’m like, I’m not doing this next year.”
His solution? An air-conditioned dog house.
Despite digs fit for a princess, Callie did not take to the summer house as well as Scott had hoped. “I think she won’t go in there because of the noise of the unit, so I said, ‘I guess I’m gonna put in central heating and air now,’” he jokes.
Cahaba Heights is Callie’s Home
“We can’t catch her enough to take her to the vet, but the girl has it made here,” Scott says. He treats Callie for fleas and ticks and attempts to give her dewormer medicine.
Sometimes community members, especially those not as familiar with Callie’s living situation, raise concerns over her care. Scott, along with many of the Facebook page’s devotees, are happy to explain that while it might be unconventional, Callie is certainly well cared for. Callie seems to love Cahaba Heights as much as its human residents, and as Scott says, “Why would we take her out of the environment that she loves?”
Ultimately, Callie is still Callie, and those who know her best know that she will likely never fully warm up to the community at large. “She’s not going to let people pet her,” Scott says, “She may take a treat from people, but she survived this long on the streets for a reason.”
Even so, thanks to the loving devotion of an animal-loving shop owner and a community willing to embrace a precious pup and respect her chosen life, Callie has become a beloved member of Cahaba Heights, representing the best of a kind-hearted and caring community.
Next time you’re in Cahaba Heights, keep your eyes peeled for Callie, but it’s best to just leave her be. You are welcome to drop off a new Greenie for Callie at Postmark Paris and join the Callie Heights Facebook group to stay up-to-date on the unofficial town mascot.
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Katie Leigh Matthews
A Birmingham native, Katie is a lifelong waterfall chaser and is passionate about the outdoors. She also loves connecting with remarkable women in the Birmingham community and bringing their stories to life. Katie has been writing professionally for over six years; you can find more of her work at Moms.com and Islands.com.