Progress and contentment!

Ah yeah.... I think that I fall more in love with my fur kids everyday. Everyday they bring me so much joy, laughter and contentment. And the strides that my boy Brody is making in coming out of his shell is amazing!

However, I had to post this pic, this is a typical evening at home, all cuddled up and snoozing on the sofa with me while we watch TV. Brody has become quite the snuggler.

And Bedtime is his favorite time. He's getting good at crashing and taking up space on the other side of the bed! Well unless it's a very cold night, then he wants to snuggle next to me under the covers with his head on the pillow like mom.

And those cold nights gets everyone into the bed, I do believe that for me, king-sized is a necessity!

But onto other things. Brody was very fearful of everything when he first came home. And has always been fearful of new people and men especially. It usually takes him a month or more to warm up to someone new. However, recently I had a new roommate move in with her dog on the first of the month. The animals all loved her right off. And within two days of her moving in, Brody was greeting her with a smile and tail wagging, or butt wiggling like Corgis do.

Last week though she had to be gone for a few days for surgery then stay with her mom over the weekend. The morning of that day, we were both up getting ready, and the dogs knew she was anxious. So they both trotted back to the bathroom to wiggle their butts, smile and say good morning to her. All I saw was the hind ends outside the door as they stood there patiently, wiggling, for her to say good morning and smile. Once they accomplished that mission, they themselves were so happy!

She came back home with her doggie last night, Brody and Abby were thrilled to see her and talked and wiggled. Made my evening. As they did this morning, when she came out to let Rico outside, Brody just trotted as quick as he could over to her to greet her with a smile and wiggle.

These are big, no huge steps, for him! It's wonderful to see him accept someone new and know when they need a smile or loving. Then holding his head up high with a swagger to his trot, come back to me as if to say, "Mission Accomplished!" Then he'll make us laugh by going in search of his two bestest buddies, kittens Binx and Punkin to start a game of tag. And yes, he and those two kittens are the best of friends and really do play so well together.

Everyday I believe these fur kids teach me more about forgiving and unbridled love. To see the love reflected back in their eyes to me, to finally be giving me a kiss on the nose, or purr when I pick them up, to reaching up for a hug (as Jasmine does), warms my heart and totally makes my days brighter and happier.

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to National Mill Dog Rescue for rescuing these two wonderful dogs, and allowing me to share my life with them. They mean so very much to me!

My tribe, or if you'd rather, my pack.

My house isn't perfect and spotless, it's mostly furry, even within 5 minutes of cleaning the floors and surfaces. Some folks might cringe over that, but it's impossible to keep a spotless home, or rather less dust bunnies everywhere if you share your home and life with animal companions. And personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

It's moments like this one that makes my life content, my home a loving and happy place, and makes it my sanctuary. And it happens to make it a sanctuary for the rescued adopted fur kids my home, despite what changes happen around us.

This was Abby last evening, on the sofa while I enjoyed a bit of mindless downtime watching TV. She was softly snoring, and smiling while she sleeps. It's moments of realization like this that keeps my heart full of happiness, bursting with love and compassion.

It's watching her greet everyone with a smile and pure joy to be meeting someone and getting loving! It's seeing my other boy, Brody come out of his shell and accept my new roommate after two days with wags and a tentative kiss on the hand, wanting a pet and kind words from her. It's seeing him ecstatically happy like this and playing with the kittens or his toys.

It is so rewarding, and I love them to pieces. I'm so proud of the progress he's made since I got him a little over a year ago. He was so frightened when he came home, scared of anyone new, any noise, didn't know how to bark or talk or wag his little bitty tail or play. He's learned now, though he's still wary of strangers and still scared of men, and it usually takes up to a month for him to warm up enough to say hello or sniff a new person, this time he accepted my new roomie in two days, and to watch him this morning as he greeted her when she got up with wags and a little talk as if to say "Good Morning! We're here to share a smile!", confirmed that these two rescued me too. Very much made my morning and a great start to the day.

See these two have time to make up, to love, play and be doggies, and to especially accept love and care. They both were rescued from an illegal breeder in the Midwest, which is another word for puppy mill. Abby spent 7 years of her life in a crate, doing nothing but giving birth, not knowing kindness or proper care or love. But she never let go of her sunny outlook, she's learned to walk and get around again, dance and get up a step, be cuddled and love it, snuggle with me on the sofa, and play. She really does love everyone she meets, and tells them so. Brody spent the first two years of his life in the same mill, and I have no idea what was done to him, but the fear is taking time to overcome, and it's a testament of what love, tenderness and care can do to help change this. He's such a happy boy now, and loves to play with the kittens, (they're his best buddies), race me up the stairs to snuggle with me at bedtime, or push his way in to being the center of my lap or attention on the sofa.

Think about it though, these two like so many other dogs, didn't know what a bed was, much less a dog bed, what living inside is, what it is to be petted with loving words and a soft hand, to be encouraged to talk back with you, to play or run in a yard with grass and leaves. They know what it's like now, and they love it. Brody loves the brisk mornings and loves to run for the sheer joy of running around the yard, then comes up for loving words and a pet to run around again. Brings a smile to my face every time. And to see Abby dance and talk to me when I come home from work, or be so happy at supper time or knowing I'm giving them a treat. To see her get to momma the kittens and love on them and play, or just sleep with a smile all the time keeps me content and very loved and happy.

Please, always adopt, you won't be sorry, they'll give so much back to you if you'll let them, they'll truly change your life. Doesn't matter the age, if they want to share their heart, soul, and life with you, let them in. Kitty, doggy, rabbit or horse or other unwanted animal, they'll tell you when they have picked you. Let's put the evil puppy mills out of business!

Cuteness and Wondering if the house will survive

Ahhhhh, we all love kittens and puppies don't we? They're so cute and you just want to cuddle them to pieces don't you? Well, yes, they're cute, and fun and make you laugh, but they have their exasperating moments too.

Well, surviving multiple kittens in the house can be challenging! Up until I'd adopted Jasmine over a year ago now, it had been a very, very long time since I'd had a kitten in the house. I will say, she was fun and a careful kitten. She has never broken or purposely knocked things off while being a wild child.

HA! What was I thinking last June when I agreed to help out the Espanola Valley Shelter and foster some kittens for awhile? I think I must have been out of my mind some days. But honestly, I don't regret it for a moment. There have been a lot of laughs involved.

And while I did not intend to keep any of the kittens I fostered, well, I'll have to admit, there were two foster failures.

Meet Punkin and Binx. They both decided they needed to stay with me and the rest of the menagerie in the house. Cute and innocent looking right? Riiiiight..... While they have their absolute adorable moments and lovey dovey moments, there are also those moments of sheer exasperation. AND, don't forget, Jasmine is still technically a kitten!

Add to that a corgi that's still learning to be a puppy and play himself, and you get mayhem and then you wonder if the house will ever survive or be the same again!

It was great when they were small and had not learned about getting up onto the counters and all the potential delights that might be up there. And while Abby was able to keep them somewhat corralled. Now they're getting big fast and nothing is safe. And I will say it is startling the first few times Punkin discovered he could get up on the top shelf by my closet door over my head when I go into the closet and managing to scare the hell out of me when I come out, (I think he's pretending to be a bird of prey or some such) I wonder if I'll die young of heart failure.

Lets see.... to date I've lost a lamp, a ceramic piece I'd made when I was a kid, a couple dishes, loaves of gluten free bread that my roommate keeps leaving out on the counter, I have numerous ventilation holes all over my legs where they insist on climbing up me like a tree, tooth marked mail and papers, disappearing rubber bands, socks disappearing, hmmmmm, pretty much everything. OH! And trying to teach stubborn kittens what NO means with a squirt bottle feels like a losing battle some days!

Yeah, they look innocent and cute.... Methinks they're devils in cute clothes. And despite all that, I do love them to pieces as do the dogs. They both love the dogs and play with them or cuddle them. And they are always up to inventing new games with Brody. Hoo Boy!

Point in case, I almost got bounced out of bed last night! Last night was only the second night that Brody has decided to sleep with me. Usually at bed time, the kittens come upstairs with me and we play a little bit of cover critters (where you have your hand or foot under the thick covers and the kittens attack and chase them) for about 5 or 10 minutes, then we turn out the lights and hit the hay.

Well, last night it became a whole different game, and me and the bed quickly became an amusement park/obstacle course with 3 cats/kittens and one 30 lb corgi. Seems Brody thought it would be fun to join in the game and that, gee, this bed is fun and bouncy! So I got bounced on, run over, bounced almost out of bed, and a wet nose in the ear when I replied with "OOF"! Took about 20 minutes for them to wear themselves out and finally snuggle up for sleep. Yes it was cold in these parts last night, and everyone decided mom is a portable heat pack.

I often wonder if the house will survive kitten hood. At least the boys aren't like Jasmine and think the plants are for their personal jungle stalking vantage points. So the plants might survive this round, but the chairs and couch have all been scaled so much now, things knocked off, papers all over when I get home, things dragged downstairs that I thought should stay upstairs, who knows?

At least with all the painting lately that I've been doing, the kittens aren't the ones wearing paint, it always seems to be Brody from brushing up against it while it's wet. And I think every week when I vacuum that I must collect enough hair to make more critters. But for all this, I have a fun and happy house with laughter in it and I love coming home to them!

I mean, come on, who wouldn't feel something looking at this? :)

Puppy Mill Survivors, Rescuing them or do they rescue us?

Wow, it's been a very long time since I've blogged on this one. :( So many changes and such. After my beloved Djinn passed in January 2010 I was down to the two cats, Yummy and Jasmine and my two little dogs. Well both the little dogs have passed to the Rainbow Bridge now sadly. But I'm not blogging about that today.

Today I wanted to express my experiences with the two amazing little corgis I've adopted in the last year and how they rescued me as much as they were rescued. And it is still a hard fact, animals pick us, they pick the person they choose to spend their lives with.

Meet Brody first. He was rescued from an illegal breeder in Iowa by National Mill Dog Rescue in Peyton, Colorado, outside of Colorado Springs. I had started following them last year as my ex and I were splitting and going through a divorce at the time. My littlest dog, Thumbelina became depressed and was trying to run away, and I realized I needed a companion for her to be happy with.

When Brody's picture came up on their list of available dogs, I knew in my heart he was meant to be with us. So I applied and then waited on tenterhooks for either acceptance or rejection. Well, as you guessed, I was accepted! So I drove to Colorado Springs the following weekend to meet him and adopt him, but making sure he wanted to be with me first.

What I met was a very frightened slightly underweight corgi who was so scared of everything. I sat on the floor with him for the better part of an hour, doing Tellington tTouch and talking and not giving up. It was about 20 minutes before he gave me a huge sigh and snuggled closer to me. That was the sign I was waiting for, acceptance and the first tentative bond to me.

So we washed him up and home we went after finding out a bit more about his history. Seems the breeder had no money to even begin to care for the dogs anymore, and told NMDR either come get them or they'll die. She'd been only feeding them moldy bread from dumpsters as she could. I knew this boy needed healing and love and it would take time to let him be the dog and pup he should be. He was only 2 yrs old at the time.

I got home with him, and Thumbelina was so excited and loved him on sight. As did the cats, Jasmine and Yummy, and they both went right up to greet him (unheard of for Jasmine as she detested the little dogs) and both washed his face, much to his consternation.

Those first weeks, we spent learning the routine, the fact of strangers and his yard. And getting him to eat regularly without fear of losing his food. During the first month with me, my daughter and two granddaughters moved in also. Who also helped him quite a bit to learn to adapt and accept change and people.

It was quickly discovered how quickly he was bonding to me, when at the end of the first month I went on a trip and the girls took care of him. He stressed out easily, stopped eating and had bad bloody diarrhea. Off to the vet we went when I got home. The vet diagnosed Colitis. and for a while the prescription helped. At this time I fell more and more in love with him. And he started coming out of his fear. Although he was still terrified of all men.

In November just before Thanksgiving, NMDR posted the last little female corgi who hadn't been adopted since July when they were rescued on their Facebook Page. I had met Abby when I was up there and would have adopted her too if I'd had the money at the time, and I noted this when I replied to their post. She was a happy girl and very outgoing. But she is handicapped and was 7 yrs old at the time. So the handicap meant to me that she'd been crated and bred over and over her whole life to date.

Let me note right now, that puppy mills and illegal breeders see dogs or cats as a commodity, and the animals live under horrid conditions and poor care and feeding. All to produce a commodity, puppies, to bring in the money the breeder craves. Apparently Abby couldn't use her back legs when she was rescued, and her  stifles are locked because she spent her life in a crate having litter after litter of puppies. She's learned to get around now very well and dances and runs and plays, despite her handicap.

This is no life for any animal and in my humble opinion, mills need to stop and be made illegal.

Well, another lovely woman, whom I did not know nor had I ever met, who lives in Colorado, offered and paid for Abby's adoption so that she could come home to live with us. Wow, and this was all arranged in about an hour! Many thanks and blessings to Carolyn Solseth for her heartfelt and beautiful generosity! This one was meant to be with me also. And my good friend Jessica who lives in Colorado Springs offered to bring her down a couple days before Thanksgiving when she came down to Santa Fe for the holidays.

I was overwhelmed and humbled with the love and compassion of all these folks and the hard work the Mill Dog Rescue did to accomplish all this!

We met Jessica in town with Abby, and she seemed to know who she was meant to be with and she hasn't looked back since. I just love the two of them to pieces.

Needless to say, they both rescued me too. I needed some emotional grounding and positivity in my life, and they give me that and so much more. And they've very much bonded to me. I look forward to going home each evening and playing and cuddling them both. And I discovered that Brody was very very bonded to me, and really suffered from anxiety any time I went somewhere overnight. This was evident in January, and figured out it wasn't colitis he suffered with, it was Inflamed Bowel and adrenal imbalances. So now he does just fine on an absolute grain free diet.

I have discovered over the summer that Abby loves to nurture. I discovered this when I helped out a local shelter by fostering kittens and Abby mothered them and tried to keep them corralled. Which provided much entertainment.

Brody is coming out of his shell, though he's still easily frightened, but now he quickly becomes curious about most things. He's learned to talk, (corgis talk and have their own language), he's learned to play and loves toys. And he loves the two kittens that ended up staying from fostering as they picked me and Abby.

The kittens love both of them, and encourage play. Every morning Brody and the kittens play tag and they'll all snuggle up together for nap time. This play time is the best entertainment time in the house. I've even been bounced off of the sofa when he's chasing them with great abandon! Sometimes Abby gets in on the game for a bit, but she's happy throwing her toy or bone for herself to play with.

The two of them have provided so much healing to me as I to them. They are never far from my side, they know when I'm blue and do their best to make me laugh or smile. They have become such happy souls. Though Brody is more accepting of strangers coming by than he ever was, he's still wary of men to a degree and will warm up to women more quickly then the men.

Recently, very recently, Brody has learned that there is another level to the house, and has conquered the stairs. He's gotten very good at racing up them after the kittens. I think they encouraged him to learn. And when he makes it successfully down to the bottom his whole body language is happy and proud and what he accomplished and comes to me for a good boy!

Recently he's discovered that this is where I disappear to at bed time. And last night he decided to follow me upstairs at bedtime. I intuitively knew he needed to be with me. So..... he discovered the king sized bed last night and slept with me. Such a gentleman and not a bed hog! The kittens thought this was just grand, and I woke up this morning to a pile of fur not far from me on the bed, one corgi and two kittens in a snuggled pile. Totally made my day.

These two loving and forgiving animals make my day everyday, make coming home a joyful thing, and I have never, ever in my life been so attached to two little dogs. My heart is lost to them. Yeah they rescued me.

And I will say that adopting a puppy mill rescued dog is very, very much worth the time and love. They will re-instill your love and wonder, patience and absolute compassion. It is a joy every day to watch Brody come out of his shell, explore the world, become the dog and pup he never was before NMDR rescued him, and love life without fear. Now Abby, she's probably one of the happiest most outgoing little girls I've ever seen in my life! She greets everyone with a true smile, loves everyone and everything, and those kittens are her babies. She loves mothering them, and they let her.

Thank you everyone at NMDR and Carolyn and Jessica for helping me to spend this time with these incredible dogs and learn about love all over again. Amazing.... simply amazing! And it was so wonderful to meet Carolyn last month in person! Love you to pieces lady!

I'll part with these words, please, never, ever buy a puppy, all that does is perpetrate the cycle of abuse and puppy mills. And leaves other dogs in shelters who are praying for a forever home on death row, to lose their lives. PLEASE always, always adopt! And these puppy mills survivors are all little furballs of miracles and can teach you so much! They're so very forgiving and quick to love and hope. I will also encourage you to support the work or NMDR or adopt so that can help more dogs. And if you can't do that, then support your local shelter, foster an animal even!