[Ashley V]

I don't really know if Smokey is considered a "rescue" or a "rehome". He was born in a puppy mill, and sold to some adult kids who bought him for their disabled, wheel chair bound mother. I really think the woman tried to take care of him, but just couldn't handle him. I also think he was primarily left in a crate, as his behavior shows that he can not handle crates at all and not in a normal sort of way. He has severe anxiety. Anyways, he was given up after being with her for a few months to the person who is our groomer now. She'll sometimes take in dogs that need homes, rehabilitate, train, and care for them, and give them to her clients or people she knows, then offer to groom/board them free of charge to keep up with them. He was given to a woman who kept promising to take him but just wasn't ready yet. After she was "ready" she brought him home and kept him for only four days and brought him back claiming he wasn't potty trained, even though our groomer informed her of this ahead of time. The next day after he was returned I received a phone call from my friend's mom who is friends with our groomer and told me about this yorkie that needed a home. The next day I called about him and the day after that I was bringing home my Smokey. He was 6 months old. He has not grown length wise or in height, but he was only 7 lbs when we brought him home. He is now 14 lbs. We tried to crate train him and as soon as we put him in there he'd start pacing and whining really bad. Next thing we knew he was having severe diarrhea. I figured maybe he just didn't like crates, so I'd baby gate him in the bathroom. Same reaction. He would act like that even if we just walked across the room to go to bed and he could see us from where he was at and see Chip in his crate too. I believe that this is the reason he was returned - she didn't understand he had separation anxiety after all he'd already been through. After about a week, I figured it out and did a little experiment. I let him AND Chip free roam in our master bedroom when we left. His problem disappeared and he gained all his weight back!!! This poor dog used to be scared of everything. At one point I couldn't even kiss him without him freaking out. After a lot of hard work, he is the perfect baby and I wouldn't trade him for anything. Sometimes if he senses a change he'll get all anxious and his anxiety problem will surface, like the time I was dog sitting for my MIL and I left their dog in a crate downstairs hoping it would make life easier on all three dogs since Ace (MIL's dog) always stays in a crate and mine free roam in the bedroom when we leave. Smokey had a cow! I came back home to my bedroom with a biiiiiig, nasty, smelly mess. The next day I put Ace in a crate in the bedroom and all three were totally content. When we moved into our condo, Smokey started up again too. He just takes awhile to get used to new situations. So anyways, that's Smokey's story. We've had him 2 1/2 years now!