Someone on the bichon forum just shared this heart warming story of how he and his wife came to be owned by their current bichon.
I'm not sure if this counts as a rescue in the true sense, but in my mind it was certainly a rescue.
After our last Bichon died it became evident that my wife and I wouldn't last long without another little fuzz ball bouncing around the house. It was getting close to Christmas and I was visiting family out of state. Now, I do not condone pet shop purchases and it is never my intent to buy from a pet shop, but I do on occasion venture into one as sort of an investigative visit to see if there's any evidence of wrongdoing that I can cause a stink over. Well, during this particular visit to a shop in a mall close to my parent's house I didn't see any Bichon's and asked if they had any. They said they had one female in the back that they did not want to put out for display because she didn't look as healthy as she should. I told them I wanted to see her and they initially refused. After about 30 minutes of strong insistence and basically being a pain in their rump they agreed to bring her out, but did so near the back of the store where no one could easily see her.
If I said this pooch was a mess it would be an understatement. Her hair was thin, she was thin and she was filthy. She had a vaginal infection and was very timid. I estimated she weighed maybe 2 lbs if that and was much, much smaller than most Bichon's at her age. God only knows what this little fuzz ball had been through, but to carry on with my mission of bashing pet shops I promptly took her into public view and was talking to her. She was very attentive and I flipped her on her back in my arms and she just layed there looking at me when I talked to her and looking around to see what else was going on. I gotta admit though, the stench was horrible and I wanted people in the store to witness and get a whiff of what I was holding. The store manager was not pleased with what I was doing, but did not challenge me (probably for fear of bringing more attention to the situation).
Next I wanted to see if she had any problems walking or keeping her balance, so I found an open area and put her down. She stood there for a second, looked around and immediately took off running and wiggling all over the place. She came running back to me and then took off another direction then back to me. This went on for a few minutes and she spotted the opening to the mall. AHHHHHHHHHHH... FREEDOM!!! Out the door she goes running up to people in the mall and wanting to play. The pet shop owner was horrified. I went after the pooch and when she caught a glimpse of me she came running back to me. It was great seeing this pup having a good time, probably for the first time in her life. I grabbed her up and went back in the store.
I asked the manager what she wanted for her. Be sure to sit down now. $900. Yes, you read that right! I was so shocked I wasn't able to keep myself from blurting out "You're out of your freaking mind!". We then got into a pissing contest about how they were treating her and how I wondered how many other animals they had 'in the back' being treated the same way. She wouldn't entertain the direction I was taking that, but said she wasn't willing to sell the dog in the condition she was in. I told her the dog was probably going to get worse under their care and in the end they would end up with a dead dog. Told her just to get the dog out of the place I would take her off their hands for $100 which should cover what it cost them in vet bills for her. I also told her I wanted some shampoo, some toys and a few months supply of puppy food of my choosing, along with whatever meds they had her on and the name and number for the vet treating her. The manager looked at me with a look of shock as if I was out of my mind. I told her to think about it and wandered around the store some more with the dog 'chatting' with some of the customers. The manager came to me pretty quickly and accepted my offer. I said "fine, now let's give her a bath". I wasn't making any friends if you haven't gathered that already. I told them I would be back in about 30 minutes to pick her up. I go back to get her and she looked like Woodstock from Peanuts, only bright white. She was wiggling around and no doubt very happy.
Well, fast forward 10 years later and Holly (it was around Christmas ya know) is a healthy and happy fuzz ball. Very smart, very goofy and very much a Bichon. Still smaller than the typical Bichon, but very healthy. Every vet that has ever seen her comments immediately on how healthy she looks. At her age she still jumps like a gazelle, frequently out runs the neighbor's cat, runs through the house with blinding speed and plays like she's still a puppy. She tries to make friends with anything on 4 legs, but is never very successful with anything except other dogs and the occasional cat. My step-son's two pit bulls have become her best friends and she loves playing with them. In fact, she's very much the alpha and the pits don't give her any crap. She goes everywhere with us and has become known by name at two of the local Home Depot's and almost as well known at Lowes. She has a thing for these kinds of stores for some reason and if I say something about Home Depot she's immediately heading for me to make sure she's going to be in on the store visit.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but that's the story of my pet shop 'rescue' be it good or bad in anyone's mind.
