Project dogs update

There is a feeling that everyone who works with rescue animals knows. A feeling that people who don't work with rescue animals may not understand. It's that bittersweet feeling of an animal you care about very deeply, leaving you for their new home. It's sad knowing you'll likely never see them again, if you're lucky you might maybe get an update or two. But it's so wonderful knowing your hard work has payed off and the animal you helped will now have a loving home.

That is a feeling I got a lot of on Monday.

It all started like every other Monday there. I walked into Lily's Haven, grabbed my name tag, signed in and went to talk to the groomers. The lady I have been working with to help Mushu, C, let me know that he was pretty filthy. I went and grabbed a towel, slip lead and of course, Mushu. As I was carrying him back towards the grooming area everything went from normal to one of those rare perfect situations.

A lady, B, was sitting at the front desk adopting one of her long time fosters. She looked up and immediately asked "Boy or girl?" I responded, "boy." Her next question was even more excited "Is that a Pekinese?" Seeing the look on her face I answered yes, and plopped him down, filth, towel and all, into her lap. That was the end of that. Of course she had more questions like "How old is he?" and "Does he know how to use stairs?" and "When can I take him home?"

As it turns out, B can only have male dogs since her only female is female aggressive. She really only likes older dogs which, at the age of seven years old, Mushu is. B owned Pekinese dogs before and had always wanted to have another in her life and wasn't afraid of Mushu's special needs. I can only imagine her day, thinking she's just going to adopt a long-time foster, when someone literally "drops" the dog of her dreams into her lap.

Mushu with his new mom.

While she filled out the paperwork I took Mushu back to be groomed. C and I were both pleasantly surprised with how much progress he had made. He tolerated bathing without incident. He was still sensitive about his back end, but no longer so reactive. He even let C clean his ears a bit, so long as I kept the supply of hotdog coming. He tolerated the blow dryer very well, and even let C brush out some of his matts. But that's when his doggy brain got fried and he let us know he had, had enough, thank you very much.

When we walked back out B informed us that she was going to foster Mushu, but knew she was going to fall for him and keep him. She was able to take him home right away because she was willing to drive him to his vet appointment on Wednesday.

Here's the best part though, she gave me her number and said I could call anytime and come see Mushu. I'll be giving her a call later this week to see how everything is going and to hear what the vet had to say. I plan to continue working on him with his grooming troubles in his home.

The good news doesn't stop with Mushu. Pupkin has a wonderful foster home. I can not tell you how happy I am that she is out of there, she was more then ready. Her foster also took another one of NMDR's dogs, a Sheltie with a bad case of heartworms. Pumpkin will stay with them until she finds her forever home, and the Sheltie will stay until she is both healthy and finds her forever home. I am keeping my fingers crossed for updates.

This all means that I'm going to take on new project dogs.I have already picked one, a dog who has been with us since April of this year.

We have a new load of dogs coming in today and I'll be helping with intake tomorrow and will likely pick a new project or two from them as well. Stay tuned.

Standard ending notes:
- I am not a professional dog trainer, though I one day hope to be. I am in an apprenticeship program for dog training and will not take on a dog that is more then I can safely handle. Please do not ask me to help you with your dog, I am not qualified to answer.
- All photos belong to the wonderful volunteers who took and uploaded them in the hopes of helping these dog's find their homes.
- If you are interested in adopting one of my project dogs or any puppy mill survivor check out National Mill Dog Rescue's website: https://milldogrescue.org/