[shuber]

I've been talking about getting him a fur friend for like a year now, but he's so picky that I thought I would never find another dog that he wouldn't try to eat as soon as they met.

Yesterday my daughter and I were riding around with teddy and came upon a local humane society having a pet adoption day so just to kill time we stopped - which is a BAD for me to do, because those animals just break my heart and I want to take all of them.

Anyway, teddy did his normal - growling and barking and shaking at every dog that came near us, then I spotted this one dog that was just sitting there taking everything in and not making a sound so we asked if we could see him outside his crate.

He is a 4 year old Mini Poodle who grew up in a puppy mill as a breeder, he was only neutered a couple weeks ago when the humane society acquired him, but WHAT A LOVER. he climbed right up in my lap and took a nap, and although Teddy was leary of him at first, they are getting along pretty well now. This dogs story was so horrible I couldn't have left him there if I wanted to.

He spent his entire 4 years in a cage only coming out when it was time to breed. He freaked out the first time we took him on grass because he didn't know what it was, and today it rained and that was completely new to him too. He isn't trained in any way, but he does know his name and he follows us around wherever we go, I can't believe this poor thing still loves people after the way his life has been. We are in the process of teaching him how to play (plus potty training, sit, stay, all that).

The worst part.....after we got him home yesterday there was a neighborhood dog barking and he tried to bark back - he has been de-barked ! Has anyone ever heard of this? because I hadn't, it was explained to me by someone who knows alot more about puppy mills and that kind of thing than I do, but they actually had his ability to bark "removed" and now he sounds like he has laryngitis when he tries to bark.

The cruelty that people perpetrate on animals never ceases to amaze me.

Thanks for letting me vent!!