[YorkieShadow]

Originally Posted by DesertChildAZ

I know it's very difficult to understand how someone can do this, but I will relay a good story to you.

About 5 years ago, shortly after I bought my first home (as a single woman), I began looking to adopt a yorkie. I applied through rescues and never received a single response, so I began looking online at Craigslist, local newspapers, etc. I found an ad for a 10 year old yorkie. The owner was looking for a older senior couple to adopt her dog. She had got him as a pup when she was a single woman in California. In his 10 years, she got married, moved from California to Arizona and had 4 children. He was the family pet (and only yorkie) in a home where she bred another breed of dog. As a result, she also had 8 breeding and show Malteses. She was concerned that her children were too physical with the 10 year old yorkie, Taco. They would slide into him on the wood floor and bang him into walls. She was seeking a "retirement home" for him.

I couldn't understand how she could let him go after such a long attachment to him. And I worried immensely about how sad he would be to leave the only home he had known. My friends and family thought I was crazy to consider adopting my first dog at 10 years old - especially with the uncertainty of how much life he had left to live. I didn't care. I met him and he felt right to me. His owner reluctantly handed him over to me for $50.

When she left my home (she delivered him to me and kicked every square inch of my backyard fence to make sure he couldn't escape), he stood at the door and waited for her return for about 30 minutes. I distracted him and I showered him with attention. I built my home and life around him. (I also gave him a new name in his "new" life: "Tahoe". He looked at me with a tilted head the first time I called him it and that was that.) He has never left my side since. It's been five years. He's gone through some medical issues lately at 15 and we thought he was on his death bed a few weeks ago (turns out he has grown allergic to beef/chicken, something we've since resolved and he's back to good health). Since I had kept in contact with his previous owner, I contacted her to let her know that it might be the end and that she could stop by the vets office to visit with him before he goes (He was getting IV fluids and I was at the office working). She did visit with him. When she called me back a few hours later, she was choked up and when I asked why, she said that Tahoe didn't even recognize her. She thought he might but when she walked in, he popped his head up from the vet table and when he realized it wasn't me, he seemed deflated and disinterested and laid back down. She said it was clear that he was expecting his mommy and since she wasn't his mommy anymore, he was disappointed that it wasn't me.

So, as terrible as it may seem and as sad as it may seem for these dogs, there is a brighter side...there is a hope for a loving and happy remainder of their lives.

Feel free to repost this story should this topic ever arise again.

Im so gla dthat you stepped up and gave him a great home, I just hope that this little dog ends up in good hands too. thanks for sharing your story.