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.....