The kids in the car going to the dog park!

Piper, Petey and Parker

Petey update

Petey has lived with us for 2 1/2 years. He has made a lot of advances but still isn't like your usual dog.

He is definitely more comfortable with us but still doesn't just let us pick him up or pet him at our will. He loves schedules and routines. I think he may be a little bit OCD and also I think a little bit autistic.

We still have to herd him into the house but it is much easier. We prop the door open and walk along the patio and tell him to go in the house. We have two doors that lead into our house from the backyard. He will only go into the house by way of the kitchen door but will leave the house by either door.

When we want to pick him up, I tell him to "go to your bed" and he runs down the hallway into our bedroom and jumps into the dog bed.

About a year ago, after Petey not really advancing very much, my husband and I decided to put him in the car in one of the other dog's car seats and take him for a ride. He loved looking out of the window and seemed to really enjoy it. After that we decided to take him to the dog park with the other two dogs, this move has really helped him overcome some of his fears. We initially kept his leash on so that we could "catch" him to bring him home. Now we take the leash off as we get into the park and he runs down the pathway as if he owns the place. He chases after our dogs and plays with some of the other dogs that are there. He also is very brave and barks at the big dogs on the other side of the fence. When it is time to go home, he will walk between the two gates and allow me to pick him up there.

I have walked the three dogs for about a year now and initially Petey just kind of marched along. Now Petey will sniff around and leaves his "mark" everywhere.

He continues to advance everyday and we are so happy that he came into our life.

This is Petey in April, 2009 after he went to the groomer.

Petey comes to live with us.

Petey was found in a puppy mill in Wyoming with a group of other dogs. There were approximately 10 Pomeranians that were shipped to TX to the rescue group that we rescued our other dogs from. We picked up Petey from the woman who had been fostering him on the first Sunday in January, 2009. We watched as the woman tried to herd him into his crate. This took about ten minutes. Petey was pretty quiet on his way to our house. He had a collar on so we put a leash on him and got him out of the crate when we got him home and in our backyard. Petey immediately pulled out of his collar and ran to the farthest side of the yard. Dave cornered him where he proceeded to projectile vomit. (Petey, not Dave) Now you have to understand that Petey is 6 pounds and doesn't have many of his teeth. We finally got him herded into the house where he met our other two dogs. He was interested in the dogs but not in the humans. Petey would go in his crate as he felt comfortable there. We could pick him up only if we got him in his crate, opened the top of the crate and reached in and picked him up. Of course, this was never easy as he would get as far into the corner of his crate as he would and bite anyone who tried to pick him up. We also put a couple of dog beds in our bedroom hoping he would get comfortable enough to come into the bedroom with us. We always watched TV in our bedroom every evening. We could not get near him, pet him or even walk toward him without Petey running away. Over the next few months, he would bark at us when he wanted food. He loved to go outside and chase the other dogs. He would sit as far away from any human who happened to be in the backyard or in the room. If he were in the house, he usually sat in another room never laying down but sitting so that he could get away quickly. Petey would occasionally take food out of our hands but would immediately run away with the food to eat in a quiet area. We decided that we would not bring him to the veterinarian as he had a complete check up in October of 2008. He was spayed at that time.

Petey, the puppy mill dog.

My husband, Dave and I, have adopted our last seven animals. It started when I was volunteering at the local animal shelter in the small town where we lived in 1993. Most of these animals lived a long and healthy life but have since passed on. At the beginning of 2009, we had one 17 year old cat, Mr. Clinton, and two five year old Pomeranians, Parker and Piper. I belong to an online group where we rescued our two dogs and someone asked on the blog how to deal with puppy mill dogs. I answered by telling them about my dog, Princess, who I adopted in 1993. She was not a puppy mill dog but certainly acted like one. She was petrified of people, especially men in hats, noises, inanimate objects, you name it she was afraid of it. I spoke about being patient and gentle and how it just basically took time for her to be comfortable. Princess' story is that she was found digging a hole in a snowbank to have her puppies. This was in the month of February. She stayed at the shelter until the end of July when I adopted her. I had been volunteering at the shelter since May and anytime anyone other than the volunteers went near her, she would just quake in fear. Princess was two years old at the time and she lived with us until her death at the age of 16. It took her a long time but she wasn't as fearful.

After reading this post, I got an email from one of the rescue group's board who asked if I would take a dog that she had at her home who could not be adopted. His name was Petey and he had bit her and the group's policy was that any dog that bites for whatever reason could not be adopted. She said that she put him in a situation where he was fearful and he bit her. Totally her fault and that she didn't want him to be put down for something that was her fault. I thought about it, talked to my husband about it, mentioned it to many people, went back and forth on whether I should. I then spoke to my vet who advised against it because of the lack of knowledge of Petey and that my dog, Parker, is a very alpha dog. He was afraid that Petey may be aggressive and it could cause problems with the two dogs. I went home and told my husband what the vet said but Dave said "Let's give it a try" Well, it has been a most interesting experience so far.....