[kyfirestorm]

I've been wanting to post an introduction since I joined YT but unfortunately I live in an area that doesn't have internet access and typing this much on my blackberry is a slightly hard. Today is the first time I've had a chance to bring the laptop into town and post a little bit about myself and my newest furbaby Puddles. I'm hoping that by taking the time to tell our story I might be able to open someone's eyes. Although I've been involved in rescue and have worked as a veterinary technician for many years, this is my first involvement with a breed under 35lbs. The first thing that I realized is that I've got a lot to learn about toy dogs in general and Yorkies in particular. Keeping an open mind is priority one.

Puddles was bred by a backyard greeder, born as a "teacup" in March of 2007, and was purchased by my stepbrother sometime soon after. I'm not sure how young he was when he was taken from the litter, but he displays all the characteristics of a dog who had very little socialization as a puppy. All this happened at the end of a 10 year period in which I was estranged from that side of my family, so I've had to piece together parts of the story and I'm sure that there are things I still don't know. Among other things they had problems housebreaking him and (after getting tired of little "puddles" all over the house) they gave him to my father and stepmother -- who now had 3lb Puddles and a 4lb female from the same breeder. In the summer of 2008 I reconnected with my family and met these little dogs for the first time. My daughter fell in love with these little cuties and my stepmother told her that they were going to breed the two dogs and that my daughter could have her pick of the first litter. The reason they were going to breed these dogs? "Miniature Yorkie puppies sell for over $1000 online!" As an advocate against backyard breeders and puppymills, I was furious. As a daughter who had just mended the bridges with her beloved father, I held my tongue.

I feel the need to interject here that in my humble opinion animals should only be bred to fulfill a purpose. Things like "they're so cute and they'd have such cute little puppies!", "she'd be SUCH a wonderful little mother!", and most of all "we can make great money doing this!" are NOT valid reasons to breed two dogs together. I am shocked by some of the reasons I have heard over the years for people breeding and having puppies. And the misinformation that is given to some owners (such as my parents) by their breeders is also shocking. The other shocking thing is that a lot of people out there feel that their breeders were SO nice to them that they gain a misplaced loyalty to these people. My stepmother went on and on about how NICE this lady was and how GREAT she was to her dogs. How she keeps all her dogs in her house and when a bitch is about to whelp she brings the dog into her bedroom so that she can keep a close eye on her. How she makes her living doing this so she "knows what she is doing!" I get the feeling that some people think that if it doesn't look like the horrible puppy mills that we see on tv and in online videos then it's okay. Just because somebody is "nice" doesn't mean that they are a great breeder. You don't have to be evil to be a bad breeder. Evil and ignorance don't always go hand in hand, and there are a lot of people out there who are wonderfully nice people and who are completely ignorant of the things that they don't need to be doing. My parents fall into the latter category.

By now little Puddles was left in a little outbuilding with attached kennel all by himself. I hadn't seen him in a long time but he had tugged my heartstrings the last time that I had. I had waited and watched and bided my time in order to try to get this "valuable" dog. Now that Puddles seemed infertile his value was not that great and I asked if I could have him (my initial plan was to foster him and do some basic training so that we might be able to place him through a rescue). The Wednesday evening that I was told yes and went to get him I was shocked. His hair drug the floor by almost two inches and he STUNK. When I bent over to pick him up he began to shake uncontrollably, rolled over completely on his back, and avoided eye contact. My heart wept. After I picked him up he licked the air beside my face and I GAGGED. He weighed just a little over TWO POUNDS and I could feel every bone in his body. The very next morning I made two phone calls: one to my vet and the other to a local groomer. My vet (who I started working with in the early 90's as a tech) took one look at him and was shocked also. His teeth (a double row in the front that included many baby teeth) were so covered in tartar and gunk that we couldn't even see ANY white and his gums were infected horribly. My vet even asked "Are you sure he's only 3? I've never seen teeth this bad in a 3 year old before." We put him on antibiotics, Nutrical, and scheduled a cleaning for the next week. Thank you, Ol Roy dog food, for causing Puddles to need an in-depth cleaning and have 7 teeth pulled. He now has very few front teeth but thankfully we didn't need to pull any molars.

I'm happy to be able to say that now, a month later, Puddles has passed the 3lb mark and is improving every day. We have made great progress with potty training (going outside as opposed to pee pads) and he will be neutered in April. We discussed doing it with the dental but we just didn't want him to be under anesthesia any longer than we needed him to be and his teeth were the top priority. We still have our problems though. He isn't a healthy boy and we're afraid we might have some skeletal/neurological issues. His lack of socialization is an issue also, but Luke (my husband's chocolate labrador who was ALSO a rescue last fall) is helping with that. Isn't it wonderful to have a laid-back, neutral, calm dog that helps with rescues!


The day that I told my stepmother everything that the vet had said she cried and asked if he needed to just be put to sleep. When I told her that he didn't and that we could fix this stuff she told me that she didn't want me to spend a lot of money. What she doesn't understand is that Puddles gives me things that are priceless. The first time he pricked his ears and actually LOOKED at me . . . seeing that little stub of a tail held at a jaunty angle as he trots across the kitchen floor . . . watching him sniff the air outside and learn to be a dog (which is where my avatar picture came from) . . . money cannot buy those things. Over the past two days he has started doing a little dance when I ask him "do you need to go out?" You all know the dance -- turning in circles on his back legs, eyes bugged out, tongue hanging out in a doggie grin.

We have also decided that THIS will be Puddles' forever home.

For those of you who took the time to read this loooooong post, thank you. We want you guys to know that this forum has already helped with so many of our questions and we're sure it will help with many more in the future. From myself and Pudd-a-Pudd-Pudd-Pudd (he loves it when I call him that in a singsong voice) we want to say "keep up the great work!"