[erubresen]

Whew, this might take a while

GYPSY:

Gypsy originally came from a breeder in Seattle, Washington. One of my ex's roommates got her and her sister, and brought them home with them to Rathdrum, Idaho. They had them for two weeks, and then decided they didn't want any dogs. They called me, since I was doing 'rescue' at the time, and they knew how much I loved dogs.

Since I had Lucy (ACD mix--3 years old at the time) and my ex's puppy Keevah (Alaskan Malamute--12 weeks at the time) I told them no, I couldn't take them. Then, after thinking on it for a while (I think maybe twenty minutes passed ) I called them back and told them I would take one puppy, but only to find it a home, not to keep it. They agreed.

So after work that day, my ex drove me over there to pick up the pup. They were keeping them in an x-pen in the garage, and they asked me which one I wanted. I shrugged--it didn't matter, I wasn't keeping it.

First they handed me the smaller of the two, who had white legs and more white on her face. Her name was Angel. After we chatted for a while, and the ex and I were walking back to the car, one of the roommates ran out of the garage with the other puppy and said they changed their mind. They wanted to keep Angel and so, I got the puppy named Bambi.

I will be honest, at the time I new zilch about pit bulls. I barely only knew what was on the news--baby eating monsters, etc. etc. So I was a bit leery of having this ferocious, 11lb nine week old beast in my home.

I immediately put an ad in the paper, fliers up at the feed stores, telling about a cute, ADBA papered apbt puppy for adoption. I had so many people call and come to see her in the first two weeks, and all of them gave me the chills. They weren't the type of people I'd want to give a pet rock to, much less a puppy.

So then I started researching the breed and finding out that they were really nice dogs. And then I started thinking about how it would feel without her (I never could bring myself to call her 'Bambi'. So for the first two weeks she was with me, I just called her puppy or little girl.) I was really, really attached to her.

So I gave it up. Her forever home was with me. She already knew that at this point in time, and had settled in beautifully. She was just waiting on me. I chose her name, in all my uncreativity, by naming her after my Granny's old Rat Terrier--Gypsy Rose Lee.

So, now, nearly six years later, I have never, ever regretted a moment. Gypsy is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

Here she is just a little while after I brought her home--in a home made hand stitched ghetto fleece jacket


And now.


MEXICO:

Mexi came along when I was living in New Mexico for a brief interlude. I had Gypsy, who was about 1.5 years old or so, and Lucy, who was 4 or so.

I was out walking Lucy through town when I spotted this little puppy on the road. She was nine or ten weeks old. She was all bones, splotchy fur, and sick, sick, sick. So, I caught her, and carried her the mile walk home.

I didn't expect her to survive, honestly. She was so little, so emaciated, and so covered in fleas and ticks I just didn't see her pulling through.

She was a little wild and free coyote wannabe, so she wasn't so happy about the human contact. I set up a wire crate and covered it with a blanket so it was dark and quiet, and she was quite happy to be in there.

After a day of multiple small meals and constant supply of water, she really started perking up. After three days, I gave her a flea and tick dip and pulled all the little buggers off of her. Then we made a trip to the vet, to get a parvo test and a general check up. She tested negative for parvo, thank God, and was just proclaimed vastly underweight, but otherwise healthy.

I tried for a while to get her into rescue, but since she was semi-wild and had the tendency to bite out of her fear, no one was interested (can't blame them, stray puppies and dogs are a dime a dozen around here).

I named her Mexico, since I found her in New Mexico

When she was four months old I took her to be spayed and they did the pre-op blood work and discovered that she had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever--which totally explained a lot of her issues. She was on medication for a while, and she started looking better.

Mexi is now about 4.5 years old and doing very well. She has come SUCH a long way since she was that scrawny, terrified little puppy. She is a very sweet dog, and believe it or not, from her fear biting start, she is now a very, very gentle dog.

Mexi then:


Mexi now:


Umah:

I bought Umah from a breeder in Oregon when she was about five months old. Not much else to say on it

Umah then:


Umah now:


Marsha:

I adopted Marsha from the animal control in Gallup, NM. We were in there just browsing and I seen her squishy little face, and it was love at first site. She growled at me, and I melted.

I adopted her with the intention of finding her a good placement somewhere else. Gallup AC isn't known for doing home checks, or anything else to insure the dogs are going to good homes--they only care if you have the money to pay at the time.

Anyway, I liked Marsha way too much. Even my Mom was trying to convince me to keep her!

Its been a couple of years now, and even though Marsha is still a little bratface, I love her and she fits in well here.

Marsha then:


Marsha now:


Hoss:

Hoss showed up on my parent's property last year. He was pretty banged up and thin, and obviously looking for a place to rest his poor body. My Dad, who normally just chases strays off no matter what, actually caught him and put him in the dog kennel. My Mom called me to let me know about him, and she said that he looked like he was going to die. I was at work at the time, and wouldn't be able to get home for hours. I just told her to give him a little food and some water, and let him alone.

When I got home, he wasn't in as bad of shape as I thought he would be due to my Mom's description...but he was still in really rough shape. He needed vet care ASAP, that was for sure. With the help of very generous friends, online and offline, we managed to get him in the very next day to have everything taken care of.

I didn't want to keep him at the time. I had four dogs already, and I was already stretched pretty thin on time, between them and work. I wanted to get him healthy then find a breed savvy rescue to take him in. I had e-mailed several rescues with no response.

I don't remember how long it was that I had him when I took him in to have his legs looked at. He was always lame, limping and gimping around, and his structure was shot all to hell. When I first took him in, they told me nerve damage. A while later, we had x-rays done and it turned out he has osteosarcoma (bone cancer) in his forelegs and left shoulder.

After this discovery, and also knowing that his time was limited, I decided he would stay here to finish out his life. I love him to death, and he is a very good dog. Him being DA makes things a bit more tricky, but we still manage to get his walk in just about every day, and if we can't do the walk, we always spend a couple hours before bed time chilling on the couch watching movies together.

It'll be a year in October.

Hoss then:


Hoss now: