| One Saturday morning our vet called me about 11:15 AM. He had a 6-year-old old Maltese female from a puppy mill. The owner had brought her in because the dog had only one puppy and no milk came in. Thus she was not earning her keep, and the owner wanted her euthanized. The dog was perfectly healthy in every other way. The vet’s office personnel asked if they could keep her to find her a home. They were told it would be OK if they could find someone before closing time that day, which was noon. They had only 45 minutes to find someone, but fortunately they thought of us immediately. They knew that we had just lost one of our Maltese, our Sammi Girl.
It’s lucky I was home that morning to answer the phone. My husband was out on an errand so I had no car, but I told the vet’s office that we would come down as soon as he returned. When Larry walked in the door, I was in tears. Here was a dog being thrown away, a perfectly healthy dog, when we would have done anything to give our Sammi Girl a couple more days, let alone years of life.
Dolly was a pathetic waif when she arrived at our home. The poor dear had lived in Michigan weather, year around, in a small outside crate. . She had learned to eat feces to get enough to survive. She bonded with me immediately, but my poor husband suffered through one and half years of rejection before Dolly finally felt comfortable enough to let him pick her up. When she arrived, our home already had a Maltese and three Yorkies ranging in age from 5 to 12.. Dolly never had problems with other dogs, ours or strangers, so everyone got along fine. But she had a haunted look in her eyes -- you wondered whether it would ever go away. She came to us with tons of phobias. She was terrified of men, even my husband who lived with her and saw her daily. She had probably never been inside a house and she was very fearful of stairs. We found that she would not sit or lie down on certain types of flooring. At classes outside our home we had to furnish a pad that seemed safe. Noises terrified her, also medical equipment -- we couldn’t get her near a wheelchair.
Our other dogs were all certified therapy dogs, and we had high hopes that Dolly could be one too. Our dogs take turns working; it gives them each a day to be special and get that extra attention. Well, one of our Yorkies passed away, and friends then presented us with a wonderfully generous gift, a Yorkie puppy. They knew that we would rescue a dog, probably an older dog, and our pack was already on the aging side. These friends have lived through many deaths in our little pack over the years, and they thought we needed a puppy. Dolly immediately took over as mom for the new puppy, Windi. This was a big help for both of them, and to this day the two dogs are very close.
Through all our years of taking in rescues, we had always been able to have a dog completely retrained and feeling loved and secure in one year at most. However, friends and others whose dogs took classes during the time that Dolly was in training wondered why I didn’t give up on the idea of this dog ever being able to pass certification. Actually Larry and I had often discussed whether she would be able to be a therapy dog, but we decided the classes were still good for her whether or not she was ever certified. So we continued, and it wasn’t easy. Dolly would actually flatten herself to the ground, all four legs spread right out at her sides. She looked pathetic. It took lots of love, persistence and practice, practice, practice, but three years after she started, Dolly was certified. You would think that was the big accomplishment, but no -- actually the real accomplishment is that when you look at her now, you see a little girl who is very comfortable in her own skin. She is our silly heart girl.
You might wonder what kind of therapy dog Dolly is. Well if you go with us into the nursing home, you will see how much everyone loves our girl. She cuddles right into their laps and after a while, they are convinced she loves them best and she is their dog. To get her back, I have to ask if she can’t go give joy to some of the other residents. The older people are her favorites, but she is great around children too. She works with us in a literacy program, where children read to her in the school or library. She’s a perfectly mellow, easy-to-cuddle-and-pet little white bundle and sometimes a very playful silly heart girl. She is still my girl, but she is fine with my husband now and she has no problems with other men or boys. Dolly is 11 years old, Windi is 3,and Mandy, our other Yorkie, will be 11 in May. Our family is down to only three little angels right now.
Here this girl, Dolly, was thrown away by humans, but then saved by them, and out of all of this, she is giving back so much to humans. I wish her puppy mill owners could appreciate how much this little dog with a big heart has to give. If only they could see how she earns her keep now!
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