My Damaged Dog; Chihuahua

I have a Chihuahua who pancakes when I reach for her. Usually pancaking (flattening themselves to the floor) is a sign the dog was abused. I already knew that, but when I pick her up she's trembling. Which leads me to believe someone picked her up and hurt her. Threw her? Beat her? I'll never know what happened to this tiny dog before she came into my house as a foster at age nine, but in the almost two years she's been here, this pancaking behavior is still there when I reach for her. She was 9 when rescued from a life of neglect in a Tennessee hoarding situation. Skinny, shaking, scared. :(

She's a gentle little yapper. More cuddly every day. She used to stand stiffly when I'd pet her. Eventually, I'd move her onto my lap and she'd still be stiff and refused to sit down. She'd come to be petted, but didn't have the trust in her to sit. She was ready to bolt at any moment. It took over a year for her to sit and relax in my lap. Now she'll jump in my lap and curl up to be loved.

She hates company, but luckily we have a quiet house. Just me, hubby, a 10 year old puppy mill Shih Tzu and 20 year old cat. If someone does come over she'll bark at them from the time they come in until they leave. We're working on this issue. At first I'd let the people drop food for her and she'd calm down enough to eat, then resume her barking. After she'd been with us a year, had her spot on the family room couch, dog bed in the front room she claimed as her own, we moved onto shaking pennies in a water bottle. She was startled at first, but soon realized it  meant knock-it-off. She'll quiet for a while and restart. We're working on this issue.

She came to me with the name Corona and I wanted to change it to something ...more gentle, sweeter, but so far nothing's sticking.

I can't change what happen to her and try hard not to dwell on the hate I can feel for those who did this to such a tiny and loving dog. I wish them karma. Let the universe take care of them.

Moving forward I'm open to any suggestions for her barking at anyone who comes into our house. Its incredibly annoying! Although I understand she spent the first 9 years of her life living in fear, I feel there must be a way to let her know no one is going to hurt her now. Ideas?

Dog Breeders vs Hoarders

Dog breeders are motivated by greed. Make no mistake, there is no other reason to make a dog have litter after litter of puppies. Don't tell me they love puppies and people want them. If they truly believe that then they're uninformed and simply selfish. Selfish in that they either close their eyes to the truth because they don't want to stop having puppies, or they're just trying to justify  careless actions. Breeders do what they do for greed, plain and simple. If they loved dogs they'd be working in shelters or rescues. Lets look at the facts for each litter bred.

Say there are 6 puppies in the litter and you sell all 6 dogs. If its a pure bred and popular breed you could get at least $500 per dog. Five time six? That litter earned $3000. (Now tell me this isn't greed?)

Percentage facts? If 2 of these dogs get good long term homes where they'll be well taken care of their whole lives, that's luck. The other 4? Chances are good that they'll end up in a shelter or just be victims of abuse or neglect. Will someone with unrealistic expectations adopt one of these precious pups and then realize the dog is more work than they thought? Will that puppy face a life in a cage? Kept there more than 10 hours a day because dogs are work? If the dog's lucky, they'll be pulled from the shelter by a rescue group and these loving souls will find the dog a home. If the rescue is full, or the dog's plight just doesn't reach the rescue in time, the dog will be euthanized. Shoved in a tin box with dozens of other unwanted dogs and gassed. Was that worth it? Breeders don't care about the long life of the dogs they breed. They care about cash.

The parents of those cute little puppies in the window? They're caged 24/7 with little or no human contact. They're often fighting infections without proper veterinary care and will be bred over and over again while still sick. The puppies they breed have a good chance of developing congenital defects that might not be evident right away, but something the buyer will have to deal with for the rest of the dog's life.

Once the parents are too old to breed or not producing sell-able puppies, they are sold off, dumped in shelters, or simply put down, often by crude and cruel methods.

This is Gracie. She's a puppy mill survivor. Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue was contacted by a shelter in Missouri. Some breeder dumped a bunch of dogs at the shelter and they needed homes. Puppy mill dogs who have never lived in a home, were not housebroken, never had any human contact so probably couldn't live with kids, and most were sick in some way.

Gracie came to my house as a foster dog. She wouldn't look at me, cowered whenever I came near her and had infections in both ears and her spay incision. She was completely shaved down because the breeder had never had her groomed and she was completely matted when she arrived at the shelter. After a few weeks she was feeling better physically but still had a long way to go. She never barked, played or acted like a dog. She was fearful and didn't like to be touched. When adoption applications came in I hesitated. It took me a little bit but I finally admitted this shy little pup had stolen my heart. We worked on housebreaking skills, tempted her with treats and toys and eventually, slowly she opened up. One day I came in from work and she barked. She'd been here almost 3 months and it was the first time I heard her bark. I almost cried.

Now Gracie plays with toys, raced through the house and barks when we come home. She snoozes on the couch and hides her treats under the cushions. She was one of the lucky ones, she got out.

Tomorrow: Why Hoarders are different from breeders.

Hard times, Good times...

Sometimes fostering a dog can bring great joy. You take a scared pup into your home, work through the issues, and help them learn what its like to live with love. Then they find a good home and you miss them but you know in your heart they're off to a happy life. That's the reward, the heartbreak and the reason you do it again.

Then there's Trouble. This little brown and white Chihuahua came from a southern shelter. They said he had one deformed leg. Okay, we can deal. Send him up on the next transport. We get dogs with issues all the time. Heartworm is rampant in the south and treating it can be expensive, but we have great volunteers and good vets who help us muddle through the treatment. Parvo? It happens. Sometimes seemingly healthy pups come up and WHAM! Parvo! It sucks, but it's treatable. The volunteer is on 24/7 alert in helping the dog survive but it can be done. We've had to do it a million times and the dogs go on to live healthy lives.
But when Trouble arrived and we placed the little guy on the ground we discovered he had more than a deformed front leg. Both back legs wobbled like he couldn't balance on them at all. Off we go to the vet to discover this little guy was in a lot of pain. Both back knee caps were dislocated and that deformed front leg were all the results of severe abuse. Surgery to fix this little guy will cost over $6000. Yes, Trouble has real trouble.
So we deal. Fundraising goes viral and movies are made and flyers go out. Six grand is a lot of money and bottom line is---we have to raise it because Trouble will be fixed. Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue doesn't give up on any dog.
So we move on and then comes a little Shih Tzu up from the south. She's cute and happy but, after we shave her down so we can see this little girl under all the matting, her face looks funny, lopsided. Something we couldn't see under all the matting. A trip to the vet and we find out her jaw is dislocated. The vet said she must have been kicked in the face at some point.
That's two injured, abused pups in one month. SHEESH! What kind of people abuse animals and then just dump them in shelters? My first reaction is hate. Pure ugly hate. I hate these people and think they should be locked away where they can't ever hurt another living thing. They are not fit to be called humans.
I hate this hate. It's useless. It wastes energy and brings me down.
Instead of focusing on the hate I push it aside and focus on what we can change. We can get Trouble fixed. We can get that little Shih Tzu's jaw fixed. We can move on and keep going and not let the ugly people in this world stop us.
To donate to help either of these pups go to Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue

Gracie looked at me...

Gracie looked at me today. I know that doesn't seem like much but it is. She came out of a puppy mill in Missouri and was then thrown in a shelter to be destroyed. Her breeding days were over at 3 years old. Maybe she wasn't producing enough puppies in each litter or maybe the pups she did produce just weren't up to par for the miller. Whatever their reason for dumping her she was pulled from the shelter by rescue and flown to New Jersey by Pilots for Paws. (Yay! Pilots for Paws!) Then she came to my house. I was supposed to foster her so she could find a good home. And I've fostered over a dozen dogs so she was just another one of the little loves that came into my home.
When she arrived Gracie had an infection in her spay, was shaved down to her skinny little bones (due to matting) and mostly just hung her head. She was the saddest sight you've ever seen. And she avoided eye contact at all times. This is something I see a lot in rescue dogs. They are afraid to meet your eyes. When held up they look anywhere but into your eyes. When you do get a glimpse there is only fear reflected back.
Something in Gracie touched me. As tough as I thought myself to be, this little girl reached me in a way I couldn't deny. So she stayed and I became a foster failure. :)
She slowly came out of her shell. It was two weeks before I knew she could bark. Another few before she'd move toward the food bowl on her own. Each day she did a little more and slowly made our home her own. Then the day came when Gracie looked me in the eye. She didn't turn away or avert her gaze. She looked up at me and wagged her tail. I'm sure she didn't understand the tears in my eyes or the joy in my heart.
But today Gracie looked at me.