Welcome to K9 Resque

                            " 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.

Stella

Stella is the only dog so far in all the dogs we have had with us, that did not like me at first meeting, this was not a good thing. She was an owner surrender and the owner did not tell us that she was dog aggressive, crate aggressive and NEVER socialized. She did not make a good 1st impression on anyone. She attacked a smaller dog, so she was given a second chance and brought to another foster home, we then found out she was crate aggressive, so much that we almost had her put down, she was given the opportunity to stay around for a bit longer to see if we could find another rescue willing to work with her, OR she would be friendly enough for us to work with her. After a few weeks in a outside kennel, she was given a 3rd chance, and I guess the 3rd time was the charm, she was put in one last foster home, to see if she would be able to be worked with or we would have to make the ultimate decision of putting her down. Stella showed us that while she does not like smaller dogs and will attack, she can be a good girl. And yes, she finally let me be her friend. And after all of this, can you believe we found someone to be her new companion, she has been adopted, and we we will follow her accomplishments, with her new owner.