Before and After

This is Dexter and I doing what we do all the time, loving each other immensely. Dexie came from the good people (Susan M. in particular,) at IMPS, Internet Miniature Pinscher Service, who rescued him from a kill shelter and fostered him until he and I could hook up about a year ago.

I cannot tell what joy he has brought to my life. I can't remember what it was like around here without him. He does nothing wrong. Well, he occasionally attacks Star without provocation, but does no damage beyond Star man's fragile ego. He only follows me everywhere, watching and waiting for a chance to curl up in my lap. Patiently, he lies in his crate while I'm out training dogs or at work. He hardly makes a sound. He entertains me completely clacking on the tile floor and sprinting around the place in pursut of a bunny, or the big dogs. He chases the sheep when he gets the chance. He's got guts, this little one.

This is what he looked like in the shelter, starving, cold, with a decimated immune system, scratches, cuts, and a bad case of Demodex mange. He was found together with the little black female on his right in this photo. He had not yet been neutered, (IMPS had that done for us,) and was found running loose on the streets of Orange County, California, just North of where I live. At the shelter, he was on the euthanasia list with about a week to live. This little dog is even loving to small children. I can't imagine how he was suffered as a stray and in the shelter.

This is Dexie today, fat and sassy, but still as loving and agreeable as he ever was. He gets along with everyone, and wants only to be near me. He weighs just 6 pounds, so I can take him anywhere. He has a special bed attached to the console on the front seat of my truck. And everywhere he goes, he makes friends. Small children, grown ups, old men, everybody wants to hold and pet him.

What's the morale of the story? My favorite topic of course; DO NOT breed or buy while shelters pets are being killed by the millions each and every year in this country. There IS NO reason not to adopt. You may think you have a good one, but you do not. Go online, visit a shelter, contact a rescue. Whatever you're looking already exists and is waiting for someone to love them half as much as I love Dexie. Adopting this little dog is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. Try it. You'll see.