I got Graham 7 or so years ago. He was about 9 months old and had been picked up as a stray by a no kill shelter in the U.P. of Michigan where I went to College. I had been volunteering at the shelter in my spare time and one day I went there to walk dogs and chained up outside and starving for love was this beautiful creature with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen on a dog...ever. I decided to take him for a walk. His name was Rufus. I decided in about 60 seconds that I could not leave without him. I was hooked. I named him Golden Graham. Graham for short. He was so severly abused that he flinced with every movement, but yet he still wanted so badly to be loved. He was the most starving-for-love dog I have seen, he bonded to me right away. I took him home and it took 3 days of much coaxing to get him to use the bathroom, he was housetrained by someone evil because he was terrified to go to the bathroom even outside. He finally exploded (outside), ran away from me crying, and with all my praise and love he soon learned how to be a normal dog. He's truly my best friend and I was blessed beyond belief to have him in my life.

And as for Cassie...I was in line at a restauraunt in the same building where I work and there were some of my co-workers chatting behind me about a pug. They were saying "I can't seem to find anyone who wants her, I am afraid I am going to have to take her to the pound if no one will take her soon". I turned around and asked for specifics. The woman said she has a 7 year old pug female who she just does not have time for, the poor dog is always home alone and her kids had no interest in her at all. They actually seemed annoyed by her and did not want to pitch in with the caretaking. Cassie spent aprox. 10-12 hours every day locked in their laundry room, including weekends. Because they were a very busy family and they had white carpet so they did not want Cassie getting it all dirty, which is why they locked her in the laundry room. It broke my heart to hear of Cassie's neglect. Dogs need love and Cassie spent her first 7 years isolated from proper human contact and love. I agreed to take Cassie for a weekend to see if it would work out with Graham. There was no way that after that weekend I was parting with that adorable girl. On Sunday I spent a portion of the day shopping for all kinds of toys for her (she never even had a toy in her old home) and bought her sweaters and a new collar and an ID tag. On Monday I told her old owners that I was going to keep her and Monday after work I took her to the vet for a past due checkup and changed the ownership and mailing address at the vet's office from her last owners to my name. I feel that I saved her, because that poor little heart was aching after 7 years of isolation and neglect. I absolutely adore her to pieces! She's my beautiful, doll face girl.