Of Pitbulls and Men

By Foley:

What is a pitbull? My niece Mia is an American Bulldog. She looks like this:



I was supposed to spend the weekend with her while Mommy and Daddy went to Wolfeboro but they got their reservation changed to a weekend in July (thank you Bear Stearns and AIG). So I won’t be staying with Mia and my brother and his wife until then.
I am looking forward to it, Pocket and I love all three of them, but when people see her picture they say “ohhh, she’s a pit bull,” like they say “ohhh, the Limbaughs just moved next door.”

They look at me and said: “That pit bull will just gobble Foley right up.” (Please excuse fowl language.)

I don’t want to be gobbled right up, and I say that Mia is not a pit bull, she’s a bulldog and she’s a good friend of mine, I never understood a single word she said but I don’t worry about her biting my behind, and I do have a mighty fine behind.

But any large, stocky terrier or bulldog is immediately identified as a pit bull, which I think is unfair. I am a Yorkie. There are several breeds similar to us, the Silky, or the Aussie, but they aren’t us (not by a long short, sorry, but let’s not kid ourselves lollipops.) When someone tells a Silky owner they own a Yorkie, and the owner corrects them, there is no disagreement. When someone tells a bulldog owner they own a pit bull and they correct them they are told they’re lying.

I don’t believe pit bulls are born as much as they are raised. I have done research using my delicate little toes to surf the net this morning and I can’t find concurring opinions on what a pitbull is. What I have determined is this: whenever a dog that is similar to a large terrier or bulldog attacks a person or pet they are a pitbull. When a dog is a regular house pet that doesn’t bother a soul, they are bulldogs or terriers.

How come bulldogs and terriers never attack anyone? When they do they graduate to the status of pitbull. If I bit one of my grandbabies in the face (oh don’t worry, I would never) would I become the world’s smallest pitbull?

Although I was born in this country I still view Americans as a proper English dog and I am fascinated by their view that if a few of a group are bad then the entire group is bad. Going back through American history: Native Americans, African-Americans, Irish, Jews, Mexicans, were all viewed as 100% bad. Now they have extended it to the animal world: sharks and pitbulls.

So now people want to ban pitbulls. They do it at Daddy’s work. No one living in a building he manages can have one. There’s this dog Ruckus. He’s a six-year-old Bull Terreir. He’s playful. When he met Daddy he jumped on him, wrapped his paws around his neck, snorted all over his shirt, left his face a wet mess. There didn’t seem to be an evil bone in his body, but Daddy told Ruckus’ Mom, who refers to the dog as her baby, that she had to give up the dog after moving in. Luckily her mother in law will take it. But Daddy hates having to split up Mom’s and dogs. It seems to go against everything he believes in.

There are other dogs that Daddy has had to help find homes for because they were called pitbulls. Even if there are papers from the AKC or veterinarians calling the pup an American bulldog or Terrier, if the bosses or police call it a pitbull the dog must go despite of the dog’s disposition.

You know what you never here? You never here about a pitbull puppy attacking someone. You know what this Yorkie thinks? He thinks that when they’re born pitbulls are as peaceful as Pocket and I. But humans see a potential in them, a potential for mayhem, and us dogs, well all we want to do is please our Mommy and Daddy, and if that means snuggling on a lap then we snuggle on a nap, and if that means attacking another dog we attack another dog. We’d jump off a bridge if it would make you happy.

You know what else I think? I think us dogs, being so loyal to you humans, and wanting to please you, are as unable to control our willingness to obey you as your cars, or your television remotes, or your guns. You train us to give you paw, and ask for paw, bam there’s the paw….can’t help it. You ask us to fetch the ball bam…we run after the ball. You train us use our forceful jaws to damage another living being…..bam.

I know you human put people in prison, even end their lives for hurting one another. I don’t think any guns or knives are locked up there. But if a human uses their dog to do damage, the dog gets locked up….or worse.

So I worry about my niece Mia. Not that she will hurt me. Her parents would never train her to do that. I am worried that she and her parents will meet prejudice some day because dogs that look like her have done some bad things, and people don’t understand them, and fear them. Because fearing and discriminating against someone out of fear, ignorance and misunderstanding has been part of this country since the Pilgrims slammed into a rock.

That’s just one little dog’s opinion. I know many of you come by for a daily chuckle, and I’m sorry, not in a chuckle mood today. Just been thinkin’ about my niece, and other dogs I think are being treated unfairly, and when that happens I just need to bark.

The frank, the beans, Tom and Jerry and the whole nine yards

By Pocket

Just before bed Daddy takes us out for a trip around the grassy area in the center of our development. When we get to the top of the driveway, by the woods and the meadow, we see the kitty brothers, Casper and Oreo, one white, one black, who lie by the weeds staring into the darkness.

“What are they staring at?” I ask Foley. “They’re hunting,” she said. Holy crap!” I said, and then I crapped, and Daddy told me I was a good girl, and I didn’t want to tell him it was a fear crap not a good girl crap. “We have to get inside, I don’t want to be hunted.’

“They’re not hunting us, they’re hunting mice and critters and things,” she said. “Like the way we chase squirrels?” I asked. “Yes, except they catch them, kill them, and leave them on their Daddy’s porch.” “Well what the hell do they do that for?” I asked, leaking some pee, and being told I was a good girl by Daddy, who was really starting to annoy me.

“They just do,” she said. I looked at them, smugly sitting there, staring into the weeds, and I reached way down in my belly and gave them my most fearsome: “Yip, yip, yip,” and they never even looked my way. Well that got my hackles up and I started pulling on the leash.

“Pocket, leave the kitties alone,” my Daddy said, but I was determined. I do not like being ignored. I pulled and pulled as hard as I could. Foley looked at Daddy and said “let her go, she’s got to learn,” and so Daddy followed me, with Foley, who knew better, staying behind Daddy.

I kept barking and this white kitty didn’t even turn to look at me and I got madder and madder. I performed my big move. The run up and bark and then run away. I ran up and barked and ran away. The cat didn’t move. I ran up again and it turned and it bipped me with it’s paw right in my nose.

“Yeoooow!” I cried and this time I ran in the other direction so far that I reached the end of the leash and flipped in the air, fell, ran back in the other direction, toward the cat, and turned and ran the other way again before Daddy picked me up. Foley sat on the pavement licking her paws.

“Arree those dogs botherin’ my kitties?” our neighbor yelled from his porch. I began shaking in my Daddy’s arms. Foley and I don’t like our neighbor. He is loud, he is mean, and he doesn’t like dogs. And worst of all he doesn’t wear pants.

Blake, Mommy’s and Daddy’s first dog, told Foley that one day when Mommy and Daddy were working in the garden in front of the house Blake ran out the door, turned, and saw our pants-less neighbor standing in his bathrobe drinking a coffee and she ran up and put her head inside the bathrobe.

And there were the frank, the beans, Tom and Jerry, the whole nine yards and Blake ducked her head out of the bathrobe ran back in the house up the stairs and under the bed. Then there was the night Daddy and Blake were in the back yard, looked up and saw through his French doors the neighbor flipping flapjacks naked.

Daddy told me that it was all right and he put me down and we walked back towards the house. The man was sitting on his porch in the bathrobe, which isn’t very long, it only goes up to, ugh, mid thigh, and as we passed Foley kept whispering to me, “don’t look, don’t look, for the love of the baby Jesus don’t look.”

“Don’t let those dogs around my kitties,” he said, and Daddy replied the kitties were tougher than us, and, through the corner of my eye, I could see him lift his legs, and spread them, and there they were, the frank, the beans, Tom and Jerry, the whole nine yards. I put my head down and ran right into the screen door.

Daddy opened the door and I ran in and jumped on Mommy’s lap and she saw me shaking and said “Did you see the frank, the beans, Tom and Jerry, the whole nine yards?” and I buried my head in her lap and trembled right up until I got my cookie.

I can’t wait until we sell this place. Mommy needs to live on one floor before her knee surgery. Do you know anyone who wants to buy a townhouse across from the state mental hospital, with a squirrel obsessed neighbor, a naked neighbor, two stalking kitties, and a sinister Chihuahua?

Oh God I’m gonna live here forever.

The Tanner Brigade's own Jon and Kate plus 8

By Foley:

Last night Mommy and I were watching a wonderful program about a woman who had a litter of two children, then another of six, called John and Kate plus Eight, when I found out that Jon, the calm and docile male, may have been sniffing a tail that didn’t belong to pack leader Kate.

Let me tell you boys something, you might think it’s OK to give a whiff to every Lollipop that goes floating by, but when you got a bitch like Kate waiting at home, with her angry coslopus from which she pushed eight of your children you better hope she’s lethargic from milking because your butts going to have more teeth marks in it than Matilda’s rawhide couch.

Now Daddy, he’s a silly man, and he said “well the way she bosses him around you can’t blame him.” Mommy and I, we don’t have to speak, we just look at him, and he sighs, walks outside, lies in the hammock, wishes he had sprung for the one with the canvas top because it’s raining, and hopes Mommy allows him back in before dawn.

Watching this sniveling cheater made me wonder about my own favorite reality family “The Shams & Sweets and pack” gang. I woke up this morning, passing Daddy asleep in the hammock, sure he regretted having said he wanted to watch: “Jon and L.C. living in The Hills plus twice monthly visitation and two major holidays a year.”

I walked into our new puppy park, past the Tanner Bub statue, and right in front of me, sitting in the sun, was the Pack’s Papa, Duke, licking himself down under. “Stop right there!” I said. “You have thousands of fans and your actions are sullying your reputation.”

“What?” he asked. “I’m cleaning myself.” “Oh don’t give me that! Monk doesn’t spend this much time polishing his knobs. You are a famous dog, everyone waits for the Puppy Digest to come out each week, and here you are, sitting in the park, treating your body like it’s an amusement park!”

He shrugged and went back to licking himself. I knew what I had to do as a friend. I couldn’t let Fay Fay find out about this in the Puppy Enquirer, I had to tell her myself. I found her on the opposite side of the park trying to keep her kids from eating a fence. I told her about Duke.

“Oh Foley, he’s just a dog, he has to sniff and lick and stick his nose where it doesn’t belong, but at the end of the night he’s snuggled up with me and that’s all that matters.” She then went back to tending to her children. The poor delusional woman: Ovaries must warp the mind.

I went back to Duke and you wouldn’t believe what I found. Duke was sniffing Zoe Boe’s butt. “Zoe, you’re a good girl,” I said. “You don’t want to be mixed up in this.” “Oh Foley that’s just the way we say hi,” she said, but suddenly there was the sound of scuffling in the bushes and blasts of light.

It was puppies! With cameras! It was the pupperazzi! And they were taking pictures of Zoe and Duke together. Soon the Puppy Enquirer would have them on page one, following the Pack everywhere they went, writing all sorts of terrible things, just because Duke’s a butt sniffer.

Men. Can’t live with. Can’t think of a reason to with them once you’re neutered.

Pocket is the most powerful dog in the world

By Pocket

I crawled out from under the bed this morning and went downstairs where Foley was sitting on Mommy’s lap. I jumped up and Foley met me with her morning “If you even think about me moving I’m gonna nip your backside,” look. I climbed on the arm of the chair and looked at Mommy.

“Is it over?” I asked.

“Is what over little one?” she asked.

“The war, the fighting, is it over?”

Yes sweetie,” she said kissing me on the head, “I think the great doggy cyber space war is over.”

“Thank God,” I said. “Are we still at Doggyweb?”

“Well yes, but there is no administer for Doggyweb so being on it is sort of like being on a runaway bus.”

“Oh that sounds scary!” I said.

“You think that’s scary,” Mommy said, “look who’s driving the new bus!”



I asked her what she meant and she said that Foley had started her own private site for peaceful fun loving doggies and named it after our favorite Bub, Tanner. “And you are in charge of it?” I asked Foley. She stopped licking her pinky toes and nodded. “Then you’re like Princess!” I said, and then “yeoouch!” That’s when she bit my backside.

“Why don’t I make you two some breakfast and Foley will explain it to you,” Mommy said.

I snuggled down next to her. This is when she enjoys me the most, when I’m snuggled down next to her keeping her warm. Then I ruined it by opening my snout. “Why do we need new site?” I asked.

“The Cylons came,” Foley said still preoccupied with her piggy toes.

“The Cylons? What did they look like?”

“They are blonde. And pretty. And wear too much makeup. And are self-replicating. They invaded, but they never spoke, they just looked at us, very scary. I don’t like Cylons.”

“Is there any other reason?” I asked.

She nodded her head. “Dymes,” she said.

“Oh Foley are you into the loan sharks again? You have to stop betting on the bunny races.”

“Not dimes, Dymes. You know that white doggy that showed up Friday night and ruined doggyweb for everyone. I’ve been told I shouldn’t use her name. So I call her Dymes. It’s an anagram.”

“I thought it was a Bitchin’ Freeze.”

Foley sighed. “Anyway, you know who I mean. Back when we were in the kingdom we were buds. But then Dymes got all testy with some of our friends, and more of her Daddy’s personality came out, and she got banned. I know, like us, but not like us, because we never whined and whined to get back on.

“So, when I got back from walking with Tanner I go on Doggyweb and there was Dymes. She deleted it, but her first comments were so mean, attacking Tanner, attacking our other friends. And get this: Dymes said that she is getting reinstated to the Castle. I mean come on! There is no way Judge Judy would side for her when she didn’t side with me. As soon as she saw two grown men hiding behind cardboard cut-outs of lap dogs she’d have Bird toss them out on their butts.”

“Hmm,” I said. “Bird. Fowl language.”

“And he kept fighting with everyone,” Foley continued ignoring me. “I didn’t want Cocoa and Tanner’s Mom to see that. I was so upset, I defended Dymes before and now he was ruining everything, being hurtful and mean. So that’s when I decided to form our own space, private so no one could come in and hurt our friends again, and that’s what we have now, we’ve made the final leap home.”

“But what if Dymes sneaks on to our site like we did to the Castle?” I asked.

“Don’t worry. I have my paw right on the delete key.”

“But wouldn’t that make you like?????”

“Don’t say it!” Foley growled.

I kept my mouth shut. My butt was still sore. But I was worried. I know from having my toys stolen and having to leave the warm spot on the bed that Foley with too much power is a dangerous thing. Mommy then came in the room with our food and Foley hopped down to eat.

“Mommy?” I asked. “If Foley runs the site then what do I do?”

“Well,” Mommy said, “you know Foley is going to be watching over all the other dogs?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Well we all need you to watch over Foley.”

And then I realized. I was the most powerful dog in the world.

The tale of the Tanner Brigade's daring raid on Princess castle

Gather around my children, I am going to tell you the story. I know you all want to hear it again. Yes the one about your Great, Great, Grandmother Foley and the daring raid the Tanner Brigade made on the Castle in Cyberland the night that Tanner went to Rainbow Bridge.

No, she’s not really your grandmother. Because she was neutered that’s why. Trust me, you don’t want to know what that is, but you will soon enough.

You see the Tanner Brigade were a bunch of rebels, most tossed out of the Kingdom, others working as double agents. The Kingdom’s rulers were evil. They banished Tanner to die alone in the woods. But he brought us all together, even though he was weak and tired.

All the members of the Tanner Brigade met in the woods just outside the Castle as Tanner was traveling to the bridge. We can still only use their code names, because the evil Princess sees all, like the eye of Sauron, but with a stigmatism: They were The General, Willie, Bubsy, Sage, Harley, Rocky. Rennat Redux, Butch, Trevor, and so many others this old mind can’t keep track.

Now do you want to know the truth? It wasn’t Foley’s idea to raid the castle that night. That came from a very wise dog that we will call R.M. Foley wasn’t sure about that idea. She was very wise, but the castle scared her. And they did not have anyway in.

Then the puppy seals spoke up. No, they weren’t seals, they were dogs trained by their leader Supersonic. They volunteered to swim across the moat and drop the drawbridge so the raiders could enter the castle.

The Tanner Brigade waited in the woods, and then they saw the drawbridge come down and got the paws up from the seals. “Go, go, go!” Foley yelled and the Brigade poured back into the kingdom. “Are you going too?” Pocket asked Foley and Foley said, “I think I should wait here.”

Pocket got in her face. “You can’t send dogs into battle and not go with them!” she said, Foley lay in the grass and began picking dirt from her paws. “You have to go Foley, you’re the leader, you can’t let them get caught.” “Oh, all right,” Foley said. “But you’re coming with me Pocket, if I get thrown to the wolves you’re going first.”

Foley ran into the castle, moving quickly, afraid she would get caught. She was asked her name and she said The General and they welcomed her. She moved about the walls stunned, because everywhere there were either pictures of Tanner Bub or the dogs that looked exactly like him.

She went to the wall where the pictures of the newest members were and she saw they were all of Tanner. She looked at the walls where dogs wrote messages and they were about Tanner too, and many of the dogs that had left the messages looked just like our Bub.

Then she could hear the shrieking coming from the top of the castle as Princess saw pictures everywhere of the dog she banished and she sent out her evil troops to find our brave pups as they scurried over the walls and across the drawbridge back to the darkness of the woods.

But Foley was spending so much time reading the tributes to her friend that she did not leave in time despite Pocket’s desperately trying to pull on her ears. They turned to leave and there were two of the Princess’ dogs looking down on them and both Yorkies got down covering their eyes with their paws.

They were waiting to be bit, to be dismembered, or worse, when suddenly there was a tiny white blur and the Princess’ dogs were knocked down and then both Pocket and Foley were picked up by the scruffs of their neck in tiny little teeth and they were whisked over the moat into the safety of the woods.

They landed gently and then Foley looked up at the tuxedo-clad dog that had saved them and she asked who he was and he said: “The name is Bond. Teddy Bond.” Foley asked him if she could get him anything for saving them and he asked for a bowl of water, shaken not stirred.

They made their way back to their camp but were stunned to see what was there: The whiniest, most self-pitying, self-hating, annoying, harassing, mean, immature, self-involved, obsequies, officious, oh my God not him agent Princess had and he was sitting in the middle of the camp saying the most hateful things about Tanner and his brigade.

All the dogs said leave, go, no one wants you here. But he stayed there barking, and growling, and hissing, and oh my God the whining, and soon the Tanner Brigade looked like it would be split up forever when Foley made a very big decision.

Like General Washington slipping away from Brooklyn Heights in the fog Foley and the Tanner Brigade slipped away to the depths of cyberspace where they could control who joins their brigade and never be bothered by Princess again, leaving her agent to sit alone in camp whining to the trees.

So where did the Tanner Brigade go? Well no one will say for sure. But legend is this is where you can find them:

“Wherever there's a guy beatin' a dog
Wherever a hungry newborn puppy cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the puppy mills and dog stores in the mall
Look for me Pup I'll be there
Wherever there's doggy lookin' for a lap to lie
Or decent home or not to be tied
Wherever puppy's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes pup’s you'll see me”

`

I'm Walking With Tanner (with my paws ten feet from the bridge)

Hey there Tanner! Nice to see you. Can you stand up? Good dog. Where are we? That doesn’t matter, all that matters is where we are going. How do you feel? Good? I thought so. Wow, look at you run. Bet you haven’t run like that for years. Wooooaa! Watch the biting! You want to play chase? OK let’s go.

Oh, hold on, I’m out of breath. Whew. I know you can keep going. Yeah, I know, it feels like you’re a pup again. What’s wrong? Yeah. I know, you’re a smart dog. Yeah, it happened. Yeah, we’re going to the bridge. Oh don’t cry Tanner. I know how much you’re going to miss your Mom.

You want to sit for awhile? Sure. We have time. Let’s lay down in the shade over there. Isn’t this a beautiful tree? Don’t worry, just lay down with me. Nothing can hurt you here, it’s just a path that dogs travel heading to the bridge. You thinking about your Mom? Yeah, I’m sure she’s thinking about you.

I wish she could go with you too. But it’s not her time yet. She will be fine, it will take time, you’re going to leave a big hole in her heart, but she’ll be fine. She has Cocoa, and she may get another dog soon, you have to help her with that. Don’t worry you’ll know how. And Sophie is going to miss you too. Yes, I’m sure she didn’t marry you just for the kibble.

You want to get moving again, we got some friends waiting for us. Hey, come over here, sniff the tall grass, oh there are no ticks just come. You can smell all our friends who passed here, it’s nice isn’t it? What’s that sound? That’s the little frogs that live in the stream that runs under the bridge. They’re calling you home.

Let’s just walk my friend. What would I miss the most? Well, most things are there, but Mommy’s lap. I would miss that. And bothering Pocket. Hey, come here, taste these flowers. I know! They’re bacon flowers! Man this place has everything. Yeah, except for Mommy, I know.

Yup, I hear it. That’s the water, it all flows under the bridge. That stream, that’s our lives, just water under the bridge. And the stones in there, that’s our souls. You see how the water washes over the stones? If you break the stones open, inside, they’re dry. You know why? Because all that water can never penetrate your soul, it’s just water under the bridge.

What’s that? Oh no, Princess will never be here. No, she’s not a real dog. Man, we did a job on her didn’t we? I don’t know if you know but a bunch of us snuck back into Cyberland and did tributes to you. Man, the Tanner Brigade invaded, it was so sweet.

You know, everything that happened, it was because of you. I wanted to be here for you, this day, I wanted to be here. My letter to Princess was so I could be here, this day. And when she “unforchunately” said no, well, that’s when it all started. Now I have a blog, we have Doggyweb and The Tanner Brigade. It was all you. You changed lives for the better. Most dogs just do that for their families, but you Tanner you did it for so many. There really should be a statue of you somewhere. Too bad we pee on statues.

Well, here we are. That’s the bridge. No, it’s not very long, but spans a great distance. Oh Tanner Bub, don’t look back. It’s all behind you. Breathe in the air, it makes it all go away. It all fades, and all you remember is the love, the good times. Do you remember Princess? No? That’s good. She’s not worth remembering.

Look on the bridge. No, silly, that’s no bear. That’s Moses. He guards the bridge. He is waiting for you. And behind him, there is Fred, it is good to see him. And Daisy, and Buttons. Oh, those little dogs behind them those are some of my family members, Jax, Copper and Sky, they can’t wait to meet you.

OK pal. It’s time. Come here, give me a nuzzle. That’s a good boy. Gosh, I am going to miss you. We rocked it together didn’t we? They have computers up here, get on line anytime, my ears will be open. OK, now, scoot, across the bridge you go, and remember on this side, there are lots of dogs and humans who love you very much, and when it’s our time to cross the bridge, you’ll be the first face we’re looking for.

I’ll be checking on your Mom every day, I promise. We will all help her through this, we will. It will be hard, but we will. Now go, I’ll see you soon, I’ll see you in my dreams.

I watched him cross. He got a big lick from Moses, and then from Fred and Daisy. You know, there’s a lot of .pollen up there. My eyes got very misty. The last thing I saw was my friend, running and playing on the other side of the bridge, chasing a firefly with Moses. I turned for home, already missing my friend

"fly on my sweet angel,
fly on through the sky,
fly on my sweet angel,
forever I will be by your side"

An e-mail from my rescued sister Jordan

Do any of you have the 365 Puppy-a-day wall calendar? If you do, take a look at this past week, see that adorable Yorkie in the bed, yes, that’s right. It’s your Foley Monster. But who is that handsome stranger next to her? Well that is one of my most favorite sisters: Jordan.

We adopted Jordan in late 2006 from the Shih Tzu and Furbabies Rescue group. My sister Copper had just died in her sleep and my parents didn’t want another puppy. They found Jordan who was 10, and had spent most of her life living in a crate on a farm in Oklahoma and used for breeding.

She had been fostered by two wonderful women, who had to teach her how to be a pet and not a farm animal. While in her cage she had her teeth become impacted causing her severe pain, and had lost her vision. It took a long time before she could go to a simple pet owner’s home, and we were lucky enough to get her.

I didn’t know what to make of her at first. She hated being on the floor, always running to a corner trying to hide. She had to learn how to go outside, how to walk on a leash, how to be a pet. But we became very close. We both had a lot of respect for each other. But there was one thing she never learned.

She hated being alone. She used to bark, shriek; rub her paws on the door until they were bloody. I tried to calm her down but she was so worried our parents weren’t coming back. As more time passed it took us longer to calm her down once our parents did come home. We became worried she was going to do some damage to herself.

We had to give her back to the rescue. It was a very sad day. But she needed someone with her all day long. Shih Tzu and Furbabies found someone near Worcester who fostered dogs and she took her and fell in love with her and she’s still with them. Yesterday I got this e-mail from her.

Dear Foley: I would ask you how you have been but one of my sisters reads your blog to me. What a little freedom fighter you have become. I am left to wonder, was it all that time you spent listening to my stories about being caged without love that has made you the puppy warrior you are today?

I am starting to forget those times, ‘cause I’m getting old, and I think that’s a good thing. I ‘member you, and Mommy and Daddy, and I do miss you all, but I’m happier here. I don’t get left alone nearly as much, and I’m not afraid any more. I was always worried they were going to come and take me back to that place; I’m not worried about that anymore.

I ‘member mostly the heat, and being thirsty, and that horrible black water, I’ll never forget the taste of that black water. Some days I just drink and drink and drink because the water here is so clear, so cold. It is wonderful. Don’t ever take water for granted.

And the heat: that sun would beat down on me in the cage. It was like my fur was burning. And since most of the time I was with pup, I was swollen and sore, and just lay there. And then the wire in the cage would heat up. It was awful. If there is a puppy hell for bad puppies that’s it.

And I was either pregnant or nursing all the time. At first I thought of them as my babies, but after three or four pregnancies a year they just became like ticks. I couldn’t grow attached to any of them; they were just going to ripped from me anyway. And I didn’t pay attention to the boys in particular because I was afraid I would recognize them when they were grown up and were shoved into my cage when I was in heat.

My life was miserable, but I didn’t know it. I thought I was just another beast of burden, like a donkey or pig, made to suffer for mankind’s fortune. I remember those last days, the horrible pain in my mouth, everything growing fuzzy. I knew I was close to something, although I had no idea about Rainbow Bridge. I thought I would just stop.

Then all the people came, and they peeled me off that cage. My hair was so matted. I couldn’t see. They touched my mouth and I howled. I was rushed to a vet and bathed, and shaved. I swear I thought they were going to execute me. Then they wheeled me in a room and then I grew sleepy and everything stopped.

I was real groggy for I don’t know how long. I was still in a cage, then those humans, who I had learned to hate, were being nice to me, holding me, and hugging me. I smelled so much better. I didn’t’ know what was going on, and I was scared ‘cause I was leaving the only life I ever knew, but I knew it was getting better.

Then my heat time came and nothing happened. I could have cried in joy. I could have cried because I would never have to have babies again, and I could have cried for all those babies I had that I had lost. I also could have cried because my long used nipples were hanging to the ground and very sore.

Then the woman came for me. She talked softly, held me gently, stroked me, I thought she was going to eat me. She brought me home, and there were other dogs there: In the house! On the furniture! With fresh water! They were groomed, combed, and bathed. They were well fed, happy and free. Obviously this woman was crazy.

Then the dogs started telling me that they lived in the house, slept in bed with the owner, that she fed them, sometimes-human food. That she would feed me, protect me, let me sit on the nice furniture, and love me. To me this was the craziest notion I ever heard, and every chance I got I tried to hide from these crazy beings, but slowly I learned, even if I hated being left alone on the floor, without a wire cage holding me in (I never knew what was coming for me.)

Then the Mommy told me I was going to be adopted because I had learned to eat out of a bowl, and drink the nice cold water, and do my business outside, and I had healed up nice from my surgeries. One day this person came and put me in the car and then I started traveling.

I saw so much of the country. It is much larger than just the flat dust of Oklahoma. There are pretty trees, and big rivers, and then when we went north these huge mountains. For a dog who never got out of a cage for nine years suddenly I was seeing more than most dogs ever get to see.

We went to a place named Rhode Island, and I was left at a lovely home with lots of Shih Tzus. I had no idea what those things were; they kind of freaked me out. I spent most of my time there on a chair, or following around the Daddy. I scampered so much on the floor the Mommy put a leash on me so she could catch me. I still had moves for a scared, old, toothless, blind lady.

Then one day, you came with your Mommy and Daddy, and they took me home with them. Mommy held me while you sat in the back all in a thither because you just had come from the vet after having your anal sacks pinched. Anal sack pinching! Bitch, please.

Then we got to your house, and I got scared all over again, because things were strange (at least to me). Remember that first night. I pooped the bed. Oh you did not like that. But I was nervous! Your Mommy and Daddy just changed the sheets and went back to bed. I knew right then I could trust these people.

I still couldn’t be left on the floor though. I loved being on the bed or the big recliner with Mommy but the floor? Hated it. So remember how Mommy got that blue stroller out and put me in it so I could be up high when they ate, and Mommy would push me from room to room when she did chores so I wouldn’t get lonely?

I loved those days. I know Daddy was sick, then right after that Mommy got sick, and I felt very worried for them, but we went a long time without being alone, and I got comfortable with that, and then they went back to work, and I kept having those nightmares about the bad men from Oklahoma, and I was making myself sick, throwing up, and cutting my paws on the door, and panting, and not calming down even when they came home. I don’t know what came over me. And then I started making you nervous, and you wouldn’t eat. Oh my. They said it was separation anxiety, and they tried different things but I couldn’t calm down. After talking with the people who rescued me, they found another home for me, and I had to leave you, which makes me sad.

So now I’m here, and, no offense, but I do seem to fit in better. There are lots of dogs, and I have found a soul mate and we watch over each other. The other dogs here have gone through what I went through so we all understand. But I do thank you and your Mommy and Daddy for all you did. And to answer your questions, I don’t know when I will go to the bridge, but when I do, I will introduce myself to all your friends, and yes, I will watch over your Tanner Bub for you.

Your forever sister
Jordan

For those of you who would like to visit the Shih Tzu and Furbaby rescue the link is on the side of the blog