A question for Aly

Hi Aly,

I have a question and I am hoping either you or someone else will have an answer for me...I have a good friend who just lost her puppy (the puppy was actually Ritz's littermate) and my friend is devistated. The pup had a birth defect and had to be put to sleep due to fluid in her brain, and she was only a tender 8 weeks old. My friend is a wonderful woman and putting her puppy to sleep devistated her. She's the type of person that would do anything for anyone, very generous, kind and loving. It's one of those "why did this have to happen to such an incredible person" instances. Well, I have been searching and searching for a puppy for her to help fill that horrible void in her life....I call into several shelters, browse petfinder.com, look in the papers on a daily basis. My friend is an older lady (she's in her 60's) and she has her heart set on a female. She really does not want a male dog, and since she's older, and she has young grandchildren she needs a fairly mellow, gentle, and small sized dog. Problem is there are no female lap dogs ANYWHERE! I have considered buying her a small lap dog, and have checked breeders of Caviler King Charles Spaniels ($1400), Maltese ($800) and shih tzus ($600). I want to surprise her with a puppy but those pure breed pups are so expensive that it's hard for me to do. We are conserving our funds now for our house and that just seems like not only alot of money, but I really don't like to buy purebreeds when there are shelters loaded with homeless dogs. Are female, lap sized, mellow, gentle puppies as hard to find as it seems? Or am I just looking in all the wrong places? Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Leslie

Leslie, have you looked at www.HUA.org
They usually have lots of smaller dogs. I know you would prefer to meet the dog in person, but they are able to provide quite a bit of information about the dogs they have. I think they are helpful in working out transporation but I am not sure exactly how that works. I know they will ship via a certain airline, but are really cautious in summer. Look under the topic "Looking For Love" to see the dogs.

Leslie, have you checked any small breed rescue groups?
Sue

Leslie, if you think your friend would be interested in a Mini Schnauzer, there is a rescue in Michigan. http://rescue.ddc.com/msrescue/
The schnauzer rescue people usually will try to match a dog with the person and their lifestyle.
Some schnausers are good with kids, most of them are lapdogs (Daisy is an exception) they are very loyal, loving, do not shed,
the bad side is that they have to be groomed about every six weeks. They are mostly salt and pepper and black. Sometimes they have mixed which they call schnoodles, they are adorable. They usually have both female and males available for a very low adopting fee.
So sorry about your friends little dog, I'm sure it was very tough for her to lose the little pup.
Jackie

I recently tried to help a friend adopt a small dog "rescue." Apparently they are very much in demand and not so easy to find at local shelters. They seem to be the ones that get adopted first. But I know that HUA, as Rachel mentioned, has many wonderful small breeds for adoption, and are great with arranging/helping with transportation. I'm so sorry to hear about the puppy. And I wish you all the best in finding that special doggie for your friend. She is blessed to have a friend like you!

Hi Leslie, I'm so sorry for the loss of Ritz's littermate. No matter how young they are or how short of a time they've been with you, it is the hardest thing to go through. Well I have a couple suggestions for you. One would be to check FREQUENTLY at your nearest shelter. We do get pure bred small breeds in but they go like hot cakes. If you make yourself known in the shelter and they know what you are looking for, they may be willing to help you out and call you as soon as they get a little puppy in that fits your requirements. Of course you never know how long this could take.

Another option is a puppy mill rescue group. There are a lot of these that are geared toward small breeds only. A lot of them are adults but they do also get puppies. And they are willing to work out transportation. I'm going to look around my bookmarked puppy mill websites tonight and come back and post some links for you.

You could also contact a breed specific rescue and see if they have any rescued females who are pregnant.

I think you're making the right choice by wanting to rescue. It is the most rewarding experience in the world and I'm sure your friend will be so happy with her surprise. The only problem you may come across is most shelters and rescues won't allow you to adopt a dog as a gift. Too many living gifts turn out to be unwanted. But since we are sure your friend will love her bundle of joy, you could just pretend you were adopting the dog yourself to avoid the hassle they'd give you about adopting as a gift.

I will post some links in a little bit!

Look at this site. There is just a puppy on page one and one on page nine but you may wanna look at the pictures on all of the pages. An adult might pull at your heart. http://www.puppymillrescue.com/adoptme1.htm

I'm going to look around some more.

Oh, I made the mistake of checking out the dogs at HUA. There are dozens of small dogs there, many of whom I want to take home. Here is just one that I am in love with. http://www.hua.org/lookhtml/Alfred.html

Wow thanks guys! www.hua.org has some amazingly cute dogs, and they do ship dogs across country so I sent them an email asking about the following dogs if anyone cared to look at them:

Bonnie
Janessa
Twila
Hope
Daisy
Betty
Leah

Hopefully I'll get an email back. From the description of those dogs, they all seem to be a really good match for my friend. I'll let you know what happens :)

Here's Twila
http://www.hua.org/Looking/Looklg2/Twyla1.jpeg

Here's Hope
http://www.hua.org/Looking/Looklg2/Hope4.jpg

Here's Janessa
http://www.hua.org/Lookinglg3/Janessa2.jpg

Here's Leah
http://www.hua.org/Lookinglg3/Leah.jpeg

Here's Bonnie
http://www.hua.org/Looking/Looklg2/Bonnie3.jpeg

Here's Daisy
http://www.hua.org/Lookinglg4/Daisy2.jpg

Here's Betty
http://www.hua.org/Lookinglg3/Betty1.jpg

[ July 12, 2001: Message edited by: AdoreMyDogs ]

My choice would be Bonnie or Daisy :) :) :)

What kind of dogs are Twila and Hope? I don't think I've ever seen anything like them!

:D :D :D Daisy was another one I had "picked out".

I found a Shih Tzus rescue organization in northern Illinois that has two female shih tzus. I think they are two that have been together and really bonded. Is she up for two?http://petshelter.org/Site/Adopt_Center/ShelterList/Shelter/PetList/Pet/Main.cfm?ID=113089&CFID=2120468&CFTOKEN=64990490

Don't be discouraged if HUA doesn't respond right away. Sometimes it can take a while.

[ July 12, 2001: Message edited by: RachelJ ]

I WILL NOT LOOK AT THOSE PAGES....I WILL not LOOK AT THOSE PAGES..........
AWWWWWWWWWWW, they are all so cute. They are so small; how about two or three of them? Good thing I have such big guys or I'd be tempted..........

Twila is a chinese crested powderpuff and Hope is a maltese. Hope had hardly any hair from her horrendous puppy mill conditions, and if I remember correctly, Twila is a puppy mill rescue too. I don't completely remember, but they both looked cute and seemed to be a good match by their description. Of all the pictures, Daisy is my favorite, with Janessa and Bonnie tied for 2nd. Daisy melts my heart. She looks like an angel. I have not heard back from HUA yet but I will try to be patient. I am being completely honest and I did tell HUA that this dog is for a good friend of mine who lost her puppy, so I am not ever sure if they would allow me to adopt a dog as a gift.

I gave HUA an honest descripton of my friend's lifestyle, her backyard, the type of requrements that the dog would have to have, and let HUA make a few suggestions...and then print out some color pictures of HUA's suggestions and have my friend pick one out but secretly pay the adoption/shipping charges. If she knows I am buying her a dog she will not accept it, or she will somehow sneak $$ into my purse to pay for it. I want this dog to be a gift from me. That way, if HUA wants to talk to her, or wants her to fill out the application she can....I'll just tell her there is no charge, the dogs are free, and I'll ask HUA to keep the cost a secret too if they are able to.

I'll keep you posted on what happens. I have never done anything like this before. I have adopted but only from local shelters, I have never driven long distances for, or shipped a rescue in an airplane before. It sounds exciting.

They are all dolls. I have to say Hope has that look in her eyes that I can never resist. Thats how Reece and Lolly looked at me!!!!! Hmm, so Hope is up for adoption? Does she like cats? ACK! I can't..

Looks like Twyla was adopted.

Oh my goodness! This picture of Hope! How can anyone resist?!?!


http://www.hua.org/Looking/Looklg2/HoF.jpg

[ July 12, 2001: Message edited by: aly ]

Hope is like the poster child for HUA's efforts to end puppy mills. I have stickers with her picture on which say:

"Give Hope to the Mill Dogs
Boycott Stores
that Sell Puppies
Hearts United for Animals
http://www.hua.org

Oh my gosh, what a website. When I saw the Maltese I instantly thought of you. I signed up to be a buddy for June the golden. I would love to have her. Actually I would take them all if I could.I hope you find what you are looking for.

I love that website. I don't look at it often since I don't want to fall in love with a dog that is so far away. There are too many over here that need rescuing. But looking at Leah and Bonnie (and Hope and...)

I vote for Leah, followed by Janessa, then Betty, then Daisy, then Bonnie. It looks like Hope is Homeward Bound also. Hooray. Some of those dogs were on there last year when I was looking at that website. :(

RachelJ, Where did you find the stickers? I didn't see them at the hua.org web site.

I've been a "buddy" to several of their dogs in the past so I guess I'm on their list to get promotional material now and then.

Beauty runs in the name Daisy!! :)

Rachelj, I ordered a tee shirt and a dog toy from HUAS & I got those stickers! Really nice ones. It only took 3 days before I got the items. :)

How well I know all those pups! I started visiting HUA over a year ago. It was the story of Hope that stole my heart. If I remember, Hope is a "Sweetheart." That is, due to the extent of her trauma, she will forever remain a permanent resident at HUA. Have you seen her "after" pics??? You wouldn't recognize her! I believe she is a Maltese. I waited MONTHS for a response to me emails requesting to sponsor a "Buddy" and a "Sweetheart." No answer! I finally ended up calling them and speaking with the wonderful gentleman who, along with his wife, runs the organization. We spoke for almost an hour. Many of the pups sleep right there in their bed with them! They just adore these babies. I did, however, have to write a letter to the address listed to get a response re: adoptions, etc. You might want to try that Leslie if you don't get an email soon! Good Luck! Wouldn't this be the a most special and exciting rescue!!! Sandra

I spoke with my friend last week and told her that there may be some rescued dogs at shelters that would be a great match, and she said that she wants another puppy from the breeder that sold her a dying, birth defective puppy :( I will respect her wishes because she's a sweet person, but I will continue showing her pictures of these homeless dogs in the meantime. Hopefully she'll see one that makes her heart skip a beat and I'll be able to adopt a dog for her after all.

I was not going to bring Ritz over to her house because I did not want to upset her, since Ritz is the litermate to the puppy she lost but she asked me last week to bring Ritz over so she could see him. When I brought him she at first acted happy, she watched him play in the grass and she giggled. Then she asked to hold him so I picked him up and handed him to her and she started to sob while petting him. She sobbed and said, "I miss my puppy" through tears. I felt terrible. The breeder said she's going to give her a free puppy (and she also gave her all of her money back) so that's good and responsible.

My friend does want me to go with her to help her pick out a pup though. She really wants to make sure she gets a healthy pup this time and I knew right away that her last puppy was not healthy. If I can't adopt her a dog, I'll help her pick out a healthy puppy.

Thanks everyone for the help. HUA did get back to me right away and the price would not have been that bad. They said it would be between $150 and $200 for the airfare and the adoption fee would be a minimum of $125. That's less then most of the purebred puppies I could find for sale in the newspaper. We'll see, I really can't say how it will turn out but it seems like my friend wants a puppy just like the one that died. She loved that little girl.

Thanks again so much for the help! I'll post a celebration note if she ends up wanting an older pup from the HUA shelter :)

I like the website too and would love to be able to adopt from them, but they won't adopt to us because we crate our dogs during the day while we are at work so they don't fight or destroy the house. We wanted to adopt Winnie and Pooh from them to go along with our Tigger, but they said no and they are still there :( They were just little things when we saw them. They definitely do have some beautiful dogs!

Mugsy, if I'm thinking correctly, a lot of these dogs are puppy mill rescues. I'm assuming that it would be too traumatizing on the little ones if you put them in a cage. They might suffer from flashbacks. I wouldn't take it personally.

Mugsy - Winnie and Pooh are soooooooo cute. I'm sure they'll find a good home.

There's an adoprable papillon on that site that I'm falling in love with. I really don't trust myself to read any of the dogs' stories or I'm going to send in an application for each and every one of them :)

Leslie - I'm really sorry to hear your friend wants to go back to that breeder. I understand her feelings but you might want to suggest getting a dog of a slightly different breed, or at least different coloring or something. After somone loses a pet, they often keep comparing the new one to their lost one and the new one can never live up. This especially happens if they're the same breed. Your friend probably won't do that but it still might be too painful. Its too bad she can't meet any of those HUA dogs in person or I'm sure they'd change her mind.