Success Stories

                            " Jonsey"

Let me tell you about Jonsey. He is a very special Chihuahua. What makes him so special,? well he survived a puppy mill for 4 years. That is never an easy feat for ANY dog.

    Puppy mills are not a good place for ANY animal. The dogs tend to live in very small wire cages, in dark, swanky barns, the cages are barely big enough for one dog, but they normally have two dogs in one cage. A male and a female, then if they have pups, the pups get to live with their parents for a few weeks, till they are pulled.
And then the male does his job and the female is pregnant again, the female NEVER gets any breaks, they are bred from the time they are old enough until the time, they no longer produce.

Jonsey was subjected to this treatment as well. These dogs live amoungst themsleves. They live day to day, not knowing what will happen in the next moment. They are treated worse than livestock, they are NEVER handled, they are never spoke kindly to, they are never touched, except to grab at them to give shots, sometimes, or to check for abnormalities. They do not get petted, they do not get treats, they do not getout of those wire cages, they never feel the ground, grass, carpet, nothing but wire.
    No one speaks kindly to them, they do not get very good food.
But yet they are expected to produce.

    Jonsey came to us over 6 months ago.
I had to feed him can food sitting on the floor, and putting the can food in front of him, and avert my eyes, I was not allowed to look at him while he ate.
I was not allowed to touch, at all, he would shiver and shake so much, I thought he would have a heart attack, literally.

I was not allowed to put my hands on him for the first two months.
If I wanted to pet him, I had to climb in his crate, and force myself to pet him, while he would shiver and shake, and look totally terrified. I had to show him, that I would never ever hurt him, that he could trust me. I did this everyday for two months.
Until he finally allowed me to pet him, outside of the crate.

   We put a harness on him, so that we could introduce him to the outside, he would again, shiver and shake, he eyes would get so wide, I got to hate that look, it was a look of PURE fear. A fear that only a human could give him. It was at those times, that I am very glad that I do not live near a mill operation farm, for I know what I would have done to the people who had done this to this little dog.
      After awhile Jonsey got to use to grass, between his toes, and he got to like it, he learned to do his business outside, he learned that grass is sometimes good to eat.
He also learned that carpet is very soft and it does not cut his feet like the wire did. He learned that carpet is great for when you have an itch, the carpet will help you itch it.

He learned to trust me a bit more everyday.
He learned what a treat was, that took a bit for him to figure out
but once he did, he now loves treats.

Our Buddy

Buddy is a terrier mix, that was our longest resident foster dog. He came from a home that collected animals, he lived with several other dogs. He was not altered and was allowed to breed. Not for profit but just because! Buddy would not allow us to touch him at all upon meeting him, in fact we did not touch him for the first two days after bringing him home, this dog was a very scared, timid and wary little dog. Being the person that I am, I saw that he wanted love but was not sure of humans, or how to respond to love. I gave him his space, and he wanted love more than he wanted space, so he fought to be with humans, he jumped fences, he chewed thru the fences, the walls, anything that stood between him and humans.He had spunk, I saw that he wanted to trust but he needed time, and we gave him a whole year of time. He lived with a few foster homes. He needed to experience different environments, he had to learn to act like a dog, and to accept love from everyone. We took him to a few events, and each and every time he would shiver from being so afraid of the whole experience. We were almost ready to give up and accept the truth, that he would never be able to be placed with a new family, and we tried one last time, and it was then that he was seen by a person that fell for his cute face... it took a few more weeks to get him ready for his transformation, we placed him in the new home, to see if he could adapt...and Guess WHAT???? He did, and so he was allowed to stay and though he is still in the learning process, he is truly happy and so are we. Buddy taught us that you cannot put a time limit on love, and that we have to give these special dogs more time to adjust, and they will. Time, Love, and Patience will be our new rules to live by.....