Searching For A New Family Member

​It’s not easy to live without Arthur, we miss him every day. I wasn't ready to start a search for a new dog, but my husband was looking every day. I was happy with Jadeite and Spangler, and our cat Windy, but if we did find another dog it would have to need us. We looked at deaf, senior and disabled dogs. All in the middle of a pandemic.

I put the word out to many rescues and friends, for what kind of dog we were looking for. We did find a dog that we fell in love with a deaf boy that needed us. We interviewed the foster/rescue, something about this just felt off! We wanted to drive to a different state to see the dog, they didn't want that. They wanted the money up front and they would ship the dog to us. Then we found out the dog was not neutered and had no shots yet and it was about 1 year old. So we decided the dog needed us, but when we hand over money we may never see the dog. Then we also went to our local shelter, they had a senior, small dog. We took a trip over to the shelter and were informed when we walked in that the dog was sick and was going to a rescue. We were heartbroken, then others failed too. 

A friend of mine rescues small dogs, they had a small guy that came in with his sister. They were put in different foster homes. His sister was fine, he was very depressed and prescribed medication for his depression. Before they gave him any medication him and his sister were put in the same home to see if it would help him.

He still seemed depressed all he would do was follow his sister and the other dogs around. It seemed the only hope was an antidepressant. Then he had another blow, his sister was adopted. He did not trust people and the only one that gave him a little confidence was his sister, now she was gone, out of his life. 

Ziggy would take one step forward then two back in his foster home. He was taken into rescue in March 2021 and it was now July. Sometimes he would take a treat from a hand, most times it had to be put down for him to take it. He would go into his crate well and loved to go for rides in a car in his crate. But to get him out of his crate, he would have to be dumped out. He would only eat in a room by himself and no one could be looking at him. Ziggy would run out the door with the other dogs into the yard, But to get him in someone would have to take his small crate outside and he would get in and then he was taken inside. Inside and out, he would just watch the other dogs play and run, the world would just keep turning for Ziggy as he watched. 

When dogs are in rescue it’s very hard to adopt out two dogs to the same home and Ziggy’s sister would be fine. He would be fine in a home where someone was home all the time and could work with him on his confidence and would give him his antidepressants.

He checked off all the boxes for our family. He was ok with other dogs. He was a small Chihuahua, older, healthy, didn't bark much, loved to travel, he needed us and we needed him. Could he be the right dog for us?    

Chihuahua Ziggy