I volunteer at a no kill shelter and see many dogs come in scared to death. With the TLC of staff and volunteers they quickly adapt to shelter life until a forever home can be found. I took in Nikki, a 15 year old male yorkie back in February when his owner had a stroke and had to go to a nursing home. I had met Nikki and his owner about 6 months prior to that so he was familiar with me. He was only with his owner for 2 years. She adopted him from a rescue that had found him wandering the streets of Chicago. We had to have all his teeth removed and gum work done as his teeth were in horrible shape. Nikki acclimated almost immediately in to our home and sleeps just about on top of me. He was use to being walked for his pottying but quickly learned to use pee pads and is very good about using them. He does have some issues with jealousy of my girls. If I am giving them attention, he will try and attack them. Fortunately he has no teeth so he can't hurt them. Also, he responds pretty quickly to my telling him No. I take him to see his owner every few weeks in the nursing home and he is excited to see her but just as happy to be "home" again. I was really surprised at how quickly he adapted to his sudden life change. |