A little over a year ago my son Anthony talked me into looking for another dog. I had recently lost my husband and my dog Patches (who I’d had for 18 yrs.). I really didn’t want to get another dog but he said a dog would keep me company and help me heal. Finally he convinced me it would be a good thing. So, we looked every day off that he had from work, for months. I was looking for a dog that was medium size so I could take it on walks with me around the neighborhood when we moved to Zephyrhills. I just could not find the right dog for me. We looked and looked. We looked at every dog shelter within a few hours drive. I kept telling Anthony that when I saw the dog I was meant to have I’d know it. One day we ended up in Sarasota. As I was walking, looking at all the dogs, I came to a pen that didn’t have a dog in it but I looked at the photo. I knew the second I saw her photo that she was was my dog. She was nothing like what I’d been looking for all those months. She was tiny, only 9 pounds. She was a smushed face dog (I never thought I’d have a smushed face dog). And she was long haired and looked like she need a good grooming. But that dog was mine the minute I saw her photo. I told my son to go find out where she was and prayed she was still available for adoption. He headed for the door to find someone who worked there & I read her info. It said she was a puppy mill survivor. I got the leaky eyes.

As soon as he got to the door a man walked by. He had her in his arms. I told him I wanted her. He said that the person who was supposed to adopt her that day had just called to let them know she had changed her mind. Perfect timing. While we were filling out the papers to adopt her they put her back in her pen, and there were 3 other people that wanted her.

“Sorry, too late. She’s mine!”

We took her home and the next day took her to the vet to make sure she was ok. She’s a Japanese Chin and they are supposed to have long hair, but I wanted it short since it’s so hot and humid in Florida, so we took her to the groomer and got her fur shampooed and cut. She was adorable with her new fur-do!

She wasn’t housebroken even though she was 2 years old. She was shaky and nervous. She had a few teeth missing from not being taken care of. She wouldn’t go through a doorway unless you backed away from the door (I’ve been told that this was because she’d had doors slammed on her), and she didn’t know that she was supposed to play with toys, she’d just look at them and then forget about them. She wouldn’t walk with a leash, as soon as I put one on her, she froze. She’s over come most of those things, but we’re still working on a few of them. Now she is a happy little dog that loves to eat, loves making her toys squeak, and loves cuddling.

Kaiyo is such a Blessing to me. She helped me heal (Anthony was right), and I helped her heal. I still miss Patches, I’ll always love and miss her. But Kaiyo is my baby too and I know Patches would approve.

Happy One Year Anniversary Kaiyo!

♥ And thank you Anthony, without you I wouldn’t have her! ♥

So I’ve had a few people tell me I need to do an update on “Desi”. I’ve been meaning to but just didn’t get a round to it.  Can you say procrastinate? Anyway, here it is.

A few days after I adopted her we took her to the groomer (it’s time again, appt. next week) and the groomer Rebecca said that  she didn’t look like a Pekingese at all, that she looks like a Japanese Chin. So we researched and researched and talked to a few other people familiar with dog breeds and everyone told us that yes, she’s a Japanese Chin. We were going to send off her DNA to make sure, but like I said, I’m a procrastinator. Then, off course, we had to give her a Japanese name. I wanted to name her the Japanese word for “healing” because we are healing each other. She is healing me from the loss of my husband and Patches, and I’m healing her from being born and abused in a puppy mill. But, I didn’t like the sound of it which was Chiyu. After looking at many many other choices I finally decided on Kaiyo, which means ocean, which is my happy place. What was so funny is that even though her original name was Desi, and we called her that ourselves for almost two weeks, she ignored us when we’d call her. But from the first time we called her Kaiyo she stopped what she was doing and looked at us. It was like she knew she was supposed to be named Kaiyo.

Here she is sitting beside me on the couch, just staring at me.

She’s thinking “Thank you for rescuing me. I love you!”.

That’s her peeing. Yes, she pees with her back leg hiked up. Like a boy dog. But she’s a girl. It’s so cute! And no, it’s not from a urinary infection, the vet gave her a clean bill of health, other than being malnourished. Anthony thinks she may have learned to pee like that from the male dogs in the puppy mill.

And btw, she told me to tell you she’s having a bad hair day month, so don’t think she always looks like this. The groomer was backed up and she’s way past due for a furcut. When she goes next week I’ll tell Rebecca to make it the same date every month so she won’t have to go around all shaggy.

Did I tell you she snorts like a pig? Yes, she does. It’s so cute. It’s because her little face is all smushed in. I was never a fan of dogs with smushed faces, but I am now. Kaiyo is adorbs. And she snores. Loud. Like a huge dog. Really loud. I tried uploading a video of her but it’s too big and I was having trouble getting it to my email. I’ll work on that and post it in my next update if I can.

Kaiyo shows me every day, all day long, how happy she is to have been rescued from the horrible place and how much she loves me, and Anthony.

I promised her the first day I had her that she would never go hungry or thirsty, never be hit, kicked, yelled at or abused in any way again. And she won’t. She is a very special doggy,  a tiny little thing wrapped in a whole lot of love. To me it’s amazing that she went from being so broken, and in just a week or so she was full of happiness and trusted me completely, well, except that she still won’t go through a doorway without me backing up away from it. Don’t know why.

I still miss Patches everyday, and although I’ll always hurt that’s she’s no longer with me, Kaiyo makes that ache a bit more bearable.

There’s so much more I could tell you about her. Like how she is SO MUCH like Patches. Here’s one example. Patches never laid on her dog bed like she was supposed to. I have so many photos of her laying this way and that way but never the right way. Kaiyo does the same thing. I’ll save those photos for another post. But I will share one of her laying on the pillow I have for her in the dining room floor by my chair.

I loved Patches so much that I didn’t ever want another pet. But, the happiness and love from a new pet sure does help you heal. I love those car stickers that say “Who Rescued Who”. That’s exactly what I think to myself every day.

Most of you know that I lost my babydog Patches in September. I NEVER thought I’d get another dog, but I did say that if I found a Puppy Mill survivor, I’d gladly adopt her/him. My son and I have been looking for a few weeks, and finally on Wednesday, the 13th (which btw was my oldest son’s birthday) I did find one, and  did adopt her.  Another thing I kept saying was that I wouldn’t adopt any dog that looked in any way like Patches. And Desi definitely doesn’t.

This is Dessabell (we call her Desi). Isn’t she adorable? I’ve never had a really small dog and would not have gone looking for a Pekingese (we found out she’s actually a Japanese Chin) but a shelter in Sarasota had a bunch of puppy mill dogs and when I saw her I knew she was the one I wanted. Desi was found in a puppy mill that a woman had at her home, and was one of 250 dogs.  I just don’t understand how anyone could harm an innocent animal. So horribly sad! Anyway, I kinda felt like I was…(don’t know if betraying is the right word) but I did feel a lot of bad/sad thoughts about getting another dog because of Patches, but I knew she would want me to rescue this broken doggy.

My son and I took Desi to the vet yesterday just to make sure she was doing ok because she was spayed the day before we adopted her, and also to get more detailed information on her health than we got when we adopted her. She does have a few missing teeth, had two ticks and some fleas, but that’s pretty much it other than underweight from not being fed enough. I plan on getting her groomed toward the end of the month, as soon as her stitches heal.

She just turned 2 years old on Dec. 31st. The longer a dog is in a puppy mill the worse their health is. She doesn’t walk around much because of being in a small cage with other dogs and not having room to walk around.  She was living in a cage and not being taken outside, and hasn’t figured out grass yet. It’s a new feel, new smell etc. And she still can’t hold much food at a time, but all these things will improve with time. She is starting to wag her tail when we go near her or talk to her. She’s never been on a leash, so doesn’t quite know that she’s supposed to walk so we have to work on that, plus (something I never thought of) even though she’s 2 years old, she was never taken outside to potty, so she isn’t housebroken. Oh me! Thank God I have a really really powerful shampooer, lol! It’s been 17 years since I had to potty train Patches, so I hope this goes well.

She has quite a few things in common with Patches. Not laying with their whole body on her bed, picking a piece of food out of the food bowl and laying it on the floor then picking it up again to eat it, love getting rubbed on the head. So far that’s the only things that they both have in common but I’m sure I’ll notice more as time goes by. I kinda think Patches led me to this dog. They are so much alike.

If any of you have any tips or advise as far as helping a puppy mill dog acclimate to living with a family and being a part of the family, I’d be very thankful. Desi has been through so much and I want her to know that there are people who will love her and never starve or be mean to her.

I still haven’t gotten over the loss of Patches and not a day goes by that I don’t think about her and shed a tear for her (and her daddy Henry) but today when I was holding Desi and talking to her, a thought popped into my head that really clicked in my brain.  “We’ll help each other heal”.  That was such an “aha” moment and it sure did bring on the leaky eyes, but I know that’s what we’re doing. Helping Each Other Heal.