Any Yorkie Foster or Rescue Adoptive Parents out there?

[luvnmymax]

Bless you for taking in Miss Dolly! She sounds like she has found a great family to recuperate with! I do alot of rescue work with our local shelter. I own a grooming salon, so when the shelter gets small fuzzy dogs they bring them to me. I groom them and then usually foster them until we find a home. About 6 months ago we took in a little male toy poodle. Your story reminded me of him. He showed up in someone's yard in terrible condition. I pretty much had to shave him. He had terrible skin issues and a uti from being so matted. He was very scared. I would have to sit and talk to him gently for about 10 minutes to get him to even come out of his kennel. Well I have a teenage girl that helps in my salon on saturdays. When she came in that saturday, she took one look at the dog and fell in love. Amazingly when she opened the kennel he jumped out and into her arms! They have been together ever since. I hope your Dolly has a "happy tail" pretty soon too!

[MyPeanutAbbyGra]

Bless your heart and bless Dolly's too. I hope and pray that this will work out in Dolly's favor.

Blessings to you and your family,
Tammy, Abby & Daisy

[MyPeanutAbbyGra]

Originally Posted by luvnmymax

Bless you for taking in Miss Dolly! She sounds like she has found a great family to recuperate with! I do alot of rescue work with our local shelter. I own a grooming salon, so when the shelter gets small fuzzy dogs they bring them to me. I groom them and then usually foster them until we find a home. About 6 months ago we took in a little male toy poodle. Your story reminded me of him. He showed up in someone's yard in terrible condition. I pretty much had to shave him. He had terrible skin issues and a uti from being so matted. He was very scared. I would have to sit and talk to him gently for about 10 minutes to get him to even come out of his kennel. Well I have a teenage girl that helps in my salon on saturdays. When she came in that saturday, she took one look at the dog and fell in love. Amazingly when she opened the kennel he jumped out and into her arms! They have been together ever since. I hope your Dolly has a "happy tail" pretty soon too!

Serendipity! I love it!

[rockbaker]

Scootiebootie (on this forum) is a dog trainer...she may have some suggestions for you

roxanne

[Grace and Anne]

I'm excited to report that Dolly is doing wonderfully!!!

We noticed a tick on her face on Monday evening late. We held our breath and hoped that it wouldn't fall off before the morning. And luckily it was still there. So early Tuesday morning, I went into her pen. She headed for a small spot between the side of the pen and her house, she kinda cornered herself. I sat in front of her and talked softly to her for several minutes. Then taking a deep breath, I reached my hand and very softly touched her back paw. She didn't snap or bite or anything. She was turned so that her closed eye was to me, so she couldn't see me at all, which made me a little nervous. I then lightly touched her leg. She didn't move. So I took a towel, wrapped it around her and moved her gingerly to my lap. She stiffened up, but made no move to show aggression. I sat there for probably 10 minutes slowly petting her and talking to her. She began to relax just a tiny bit. My husband came in with a work glove on his hand, and had to make 3 attempts before he got the tick. But she let him...... I sat there for a little while longer and pet her. Later I went back in, and was able to put a collar on her.

This morning, we made another step in the right direction. This time I did the same thing except I didn't use a towel, and when I put my hands on her, I actually picked her up and stood up. Now, understand....She's not crazy about it. She stiffens up, but she IS letting me do it. I took her over to the rug we bought her and sat down. And this time, she not only let me pet her. She let me comb her just a little and I even rubbed her belly. That took a little time, at first when I touched her belly she shuttered. But with in 10 minutes or so, she let me rub her a little. When I was ready to let her go, I just took my hands off of her and to my surprise, she actually laid down next to my leg.....SHE'S GOING TO BE OK!!!

Her skin is in such bad shape and even though she's been shaved, I can see that her coat is VERY thin. So our plan is a waterless bath in the morning with John Paul waterless shampoo and a conditioning spray, if she will let me. Then we are going to start scrambled eggs and olive oil on her food....Hopefully all of this will help. I haven't noticed any hot spots as of yet. She hasn't really done any scratching to speak of. But she does have a number of scabs, I am guessing from insect bites.

Thanks for all your prayers. I think we are well on our way, I know the road is still long, but now we have hope!!!!

[yorkieusa]

You sound like an angel. I feel so sorry for that yorkie. It sounds like you're building her trust in you. You will probably need to watch for mammory tumors as well. I hope that isn't what you're seeing. Take care and keep us up to date on her progress. I think it is fascinating and a good lesson for all of us here. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us all about her and how you're approaching this.

[cheryl19]

Please keep us updated on how things are going. The best to you and her.

[grandmatoall]

Wow. This is such a heart wrenching story. She is so lucky to have found you. You sound like the angel she was looking for and needing very badly. My prayers go out to you.. for continued improvement in that poor baby. Hugs to you for helping her.

[mscat]

I am so glad you have Dolly I can tell you love your animals, It takes a special person to do what your doing. Dolly is in the best of hands. She is young enough to make a turn around. Looks like she is already making progress!
PLease keep us updated ! welcome To YT

[Grace and Anne]

Here are the first photos we took of Dolly on Sunday the 27th

[YorkieShadow]

awww Im so happy she now has you, Im sure shes gonna warm up to you soon. sounds like it wont be long.

[jrsygal37]

Originally Posted by Grace and Anne

That's so much for the overwhelming outpouring of support. Being so new to this forum, I never expected such!

I hope I don't miss any questions. I typed this out earlier and somehow didn't get it posted....So let's try it again. I hope this isn't too long, but I thought I would give you some more information on her and on us.

One of you asked if I have other dogs. We have 5 of our own dogs. Jake, (Alaskan Mal/German Shephard mix, our 1st foster, for about a day, husband fell in love immediately, he was 2 weeks when we got him, 10 1/2 months later we got to experience hip surgery, he was born with out a hip joint, he is now almost 2)Jenny (a undefined mix breed, almost 2, rescued and adopted on the spot), Gracie and Annie (my beloved Yorkies-Birthday presents for the past 2 years, and Lily (orphaned with 6 siblings on day 6, I took them on, and adopted them all out but her. She is completely blind. Was born with no eye tissue at all. She's a blessing!!!)

Although I have done several (11 successful adoptions in 6 months) foster dogs,This one has me very nervous. I don't want to fail her! I love all dogs, but Yorkies have my heart. So my answer would have to be yes....and I guess that would be an understatement....LOL

As far as Dolly's History....Well, we only know as far back as a week and a half. She appeared out of no where at a lady's house. She started comin up everyday when she fed her dogs. They tried for a week to make friends, but it just didn't happen. So I got the call. We worked with her for 4 and a half hours and finally at dark we had to resort to more aggressive measures. Not at all what I wanted to do.

Is she a puppy mill puppy....I have never had one, have only read about them. But here is what I have observed.

1. She is apparently 4 or 5 years old. But she has doesn't have bottom teeth on one side. (probably due to poor diet?)

2. She has been completely shaved, but she is scared to death of people.... (I can't imagine shaving my beautiful babies)

3. She has very bad skin (again probably due to poor diet)

4. Her nipples are enlarged, yet they show no signs of milk. (could that be a sign of overbreeding?)

5. And lastly...The big one....I think. She walks in circles. That's the one thing I saw most in descriptions of puppy mill breeder dogs on Petfinder. At first I though it was because of her eye. Our blind Lily does that. She marks her path and then runs it over and over to insure she doesn't run in to anything. But I am now sure its not the same.

Now for an UPDATE:

Got her yesterday morning. We have made her a temporary home in a 10X10 pen in the back yard. We don't know for sure how long she has been livin outside, but I am fairly sure she hasn't lived in a home enviornment, so we decided it would be best to slowly introduce her to everything, rather that give her overload by going at her with too many changes at once.

I'm not happy that we have to do this right now... With the weather like it is here. But we don't really have any other option. And we are trying to make it as easy on her as possible. The pen is on a concrete slab under a crape mertle tree. We have her a dog house (she has no idea what it is). We have her a bed (again she is clueless), water dispenser, and a rug for her to lay on. Then in the heat of the day, I string a extension cord and put a fan out by where she lays.

She has met all the other dogs through the fence and she seems to be very comfortable with them. Her health, beyond the removed eye, is still questionable. We will take her back to have her stitches removed in about 10days, at that time they will deal with more issues.

I went in and sat for about 20 minutes with her. I didn't approach her at all. I just sat with her. She actually relaxed enough to lay down!!! Tomorrow before we feed her, I am going to try to the treats

Thanks for your words of encouragement and advice!

From what you described my best guess is that she was a puppymill dog that probably was just dumped when the miller was done breeding her. Sadly, when they can no longer breed they are either shot or just let go to fend for themselves. The fact she is goes in circles is a sign she has probably live her life in a cage. The fact that she is afraid of people as she is is another sign that she was a mill dog as they have no contact with people. The lost eye could have happened during an attack by one of the other breeders. PLEASE don't keep her in the yard. I know you are doing the best you can and it's obvious you care. It will take time but if you bring her in she will adapt. Hide maybe for awhile but she will adapt and soon will love the feel of a warm soft bed. If you feel you are in over your head please contact puppymillrescue Home Page and they will be able to help with either advice or even suppying a fosterhome that is experienced with mill dogs. I wish you and that poor baby all the best. Elaine

[yorkieusa]

She looks like she is really a sweetie. I'll bet she'll be a pushover for you before you know it.

[yorkiesmiles]

Wow, I am so impressed with how much you have been able to do with her in a short time. It sounds like she is really going to be fine and warm up to human contact. I look forward to hearing how her skin and coat change with her diet and care.

[linsvs]

She looks like a sweet girl. It sounds like you are making giant baby steps towards her becomeing comfortable around you !!!