The Natural Order of the Pack????

(REAL Family Press - copyrighted 2004 - Linda Nelson AKA "The Lady")

File this in the folder marked “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” but I gave up trying to keep the name of “Diva” for the Chihuahua I adopted… Paul took to calling her “Peanut” and eventually it just stuck to her like peanut butter would… LOL…

And she is a little peanut, that’s for sure… She’s healthy now, but still a bit less than six pounds… I have to watch her blood sugar – it’s a Chihuahua trait anyway, but she’s so little, if she starts smelling something good and hasn’t eaten in awhile, she gets the shakes… The best thing for her is to have a few little meals throughout the day and then it keeps her blood sugar at the right levels…


The four of them have all developed their roles and places in the “pack” now… YogiBear is still the alpha in the pack… BooBooDog is still Paul’s baby doll, getting everyone else in trouble and then standing back, watching it all… Rogaine is a compulsive eater and you can’t leave food down all day – he consistently does his prowling of the territory, looking for something else to eat… Whether he is hungry or not… If it’s there, he’ll eat it…

And Peanut knows she’s special, here and there she tries to boss everyone else around – Yogi doesn’t take any of it, BooBooDog goes back and forth over how much she’ll take and Rogaine gives in immediately…

Peanut’s also gotten the nickname of “Mouth” ‘cause she’s the one that alerts immediately despite what’s going on… And for being a little itty bitty thing, she has one really, REALLY sharp bark that goes right through it – especially if she’s close by you… LOL… Like they say, little things in little packages!

Funny thing though – both Rogaine and Peanut have to be aside of me (or in Peanut’s case, on top of my stomach), Yogi, BooBoo and Peanut will sleep with each other, Rogaine will sleep with the twins… But Rogaine and Peanut will NOT sleep with their skin touching each other~!!... Seriously~~!!...

So if they are successful in their quest to sleep touching me like they want to, then they have to solve the problem of not having their skin touching each other PLUS they BOTH like to sleep TOTALLY underneath their blankees!... But if I can out-think them ahead of time and determine where each one is going, I can make everyone happy and make sure there is a single layer of material between the two of them… And that settles it, if you can imagine that~!!... That’s all it takes for them… LOL… They just refuse to touch either one when they’re sleeping aside of me… For the life of me, I don’t understand it although Des says I’m an “animal whisperer”…. There must be something in the pack hierarchy that doesn’t allow the two of them to sleep together touching each other I guess… LOL…

There are those that must think I’m a simple minded fool to be so close to my puppers… They are a tremendous source of comfort to me though… That I cannot deny and in fact, I guess I’m a bit proud of being able to count on their loyalty to me…

Just this morning on the way to school in the truck I told Desiree I’d love to have some kind of electrode that I could “plug into” with Peanuts that would enlighten me about her past – what she’s had to go through, what her life was like before I rescued her, what truly troubles her so that I will never do it myself even accidentally, what pleases her the very most, etc…

I have to do a lot of observing and 'sensing' to be with her where I am today… She came to us very damaged in so many ways… She jumped like a jack-in-the-box all the time at first… Loud noises scared her… Fast moves… Dog food was passed up for junk food (of just about any kind- she’s a major fast food junkie with the likes of greasy French fries, tacos, you name it)…
For weeks after she arrived here, I could not get a harness and lead easily on her... I got several bites just trying, until finally I got one on and left it on (with the lead attached) just so that I could catch her when I needed to!... More than once I thought to myself I'd taken on more than I could handle with this little pupper!... I 'felt' inside she wanted to react differently and I can't actually explain what I'm trying to say here, but it was like a '6th sense' about things... She just didn't know how to react differently to the circumstances and situations that were going on around her...
Peanut was also so tentative as far as new things she’d not experienced yet – they frightened her and you could never be assured she’d not jump out of your arms and head for the hills without a warning… If you were lucky (and there was no guarantee that always happened), she'd eventually come out from underneath a bed - only on her time and not yours - but her eyes always said she was scared out of her wits!
As they say, "we've come a long way, baby! since THEN and NOW... Anything is possible, if only you believe!

As Always,
The Lady

The Beginnings....

The Beginnings....
(REAL Family Press - copyrighted 2003 by Linda Nelson AKA "The Lady")

Since January (I think I mentioned this in the first Press), I’ve sorta/kinda had this deep desire to rescue a small and tiny pupper - sorta/kinda one of those “purse puppers” as they've come to call them… I truly couldn't explain why and someone suggested to me that I was going through the beginnings of the 'empty nest syndrome' with Desiree growing up to fast and off to college soon... I guess I just had the internal need to love up on something teeny tiny again... (smile)...

When I first got the idea, I did look on the Internet, but seldom does one of these teeny tiny puppers get into rescue… And I’m really opposed to purchasing puppies because there are just too many dogs and cats dying every day in shelters… But I kept looking at the website of our local shelter anyway…

About every 4-5 days I’d stroll over and look at the puppers up for adoption… Since January, I’d also make trips out to the shelter four times… I kept this information to myself around here because there was no need to buy myself trouble, ya know?... LOL… I can have enough problems around here just in the day-to-day things!…  I also didn't want to 'jinx myself' by expressing myself aloud either!

Early last week, a teeny tiny white and honey colored Chihuahua appeared on our local shelter’s website… In the past, I’ve gone to the shelter to look at a specific dog to get there and find out it’s much bigger than it appears in the photo…
Or it’s a major yapper that non-stop drives you to distraction… It had to be a female so that Rogaine wouldn’t get as jealous… And I didn’t want a pup and be forced to go through potty-training again…

All four times, for one reason or another, the pup I’d gone to the shelter to look at just didn’t have all the criteria… My back couldn't handle another large dog, it had to be a female and spayed... I wasn't necessarily looking for a Chihuahua, but Chinese Cresteds seldom come into rescue or shelters... I didn't know if any of the other small breeds would work or not, but I had more experience with Chihuahuas than say Yorkies... And whatever came along, it HAD to get along with the other puppers around here...

I had prepared myself for this latest little Chi to have some kind of problem – if not being snappy, being a whiner… Or something… And when she turned out to be smaller than I expected as well as a quiet type of personality at the shelter... And fairly young I was told (although once she went to our vets, we discovered she was at least five years older than she was listed as), I admit to getting a few heart tugs… And then the shelter lady told us about the lotteries they hold – when more than one person shows up for a particular pup, the shelter holds a lottery… You’re required to be there ON THE DOT at 3PM when they open, be in line and ready to enter the lottery… She sorta/kinda gave us the “heads up” about all of this – how it works – when she observed just how much we were interested in this little pupper…


Desiree decided that she was “stepping up to the plate” regarding this pup… She intended to talk to Paul about the pup when I reached the conclusion I was not willing to struggle over her… I told Des that Daddy would NOT want another dog – regardless of the hows, whys, etc. – and that it was a complete waste of her time… Paul ended the rather short conversation with “Do what you want, but when you realize you’ve made a bad decision, I’ll be sitting on my throne, ready to tell you I told you so”…. (sigh)… One more item on the side of the sheet under “Reasons why I should not attempt to adopt this pupper”….

Then I spent Thursday night not being able to sleep, worrying about the lottery and if in any way I’d won the lottery, the changes that would need to occur around here, my reasons for wanting to adopt this pupper, etc… I did not have a good night and the next morning continued on the same wretched vein… I was about 2 hours away from the time I needed to leave the house to be at the shelter on time when I just figured it was a complete waste of my time… And that I must be a defective dysfunctional human being to have this strong want and desire to rescue this pupper…

Well, Desiree and I did indeed go the shelter… One mishap after another began to occur… There was a traffic jam on the way there and instead of being on-time, we were running about 20 minutes behind… We’re standing in line outside the shelter, and overhearing others discuss this dog and that dog and the number 12 (our pup’s kennel number) coming up in discussion after discussion… Once inside precisely on the dot at 3PM, there was three of us in the lottery and after writing my name down on the piece of paper, the rest of it was sorta/kinda blurry…

Des tells me that if looks could kill – the lady behind me also interested in the same pupper practically killed me with her looks and stares… The shelter employee led us down to an exercise pen, told us to wait and then went inside to get our pupper… Apparently this other lady (with her two “rug rats” as the shelter employee called them), followed us and stared wickedly at us the whole time…

I, on other the other hand, had gotten very misty-eyed once I’d heard my name called out from the lottery… I sorta/kinda just followed where I was led and the first time I held this little pupper, it was serious love-struck… Serious… Her poor little ribs are sticking out all the way down her sides and if she weighs 3 pounds, she’s lucky…

I had brought some cookies with me (just in case) and when we opened up the ziplock baggie, you’d have thought she’d never been fed before in her life… She’s shedding like crazy because of the stress of being in this shelter environment AND her kennel being between two HUGE dogs (like 75 & 125 lbs… OMG~!!!!)... She could hear their deep, deep barks, but can’t see them… She doesn’t know that they can’t come into her kennel and I’m sure in her little pea-brain, the whole experience is immensely traumatic to her…

Walking around, it’s as if she’s operating in a fog… She went and widdled (potty-trained – thank you!)… Then sorta/kinda wandered around like she didn’t know where to go or why… I don’t think she’s “slow” or anything like that, but we suspect she’s 1-2 years old (we later found out she's more like 6 years old)…
And at her size?... EVERYTHING is huge and scarey… Plus all the things she’s probably never faced before in her life… Just the concrete-only environment of the kennel is probably a new experience for her… Her entire paw is no larger than a quarter, if that… And there’s not an extra ounce of fat on her anywhere… (sigh)…

I’d make a blankee for her the previous night and took it with me… If I’d not won the lottery, I still planned on giving it to the winner… Every little dog needs and deserves a blankee, ya know?... She appears to be a quiet cuddler when she’s in normal situations, but she’s definitely not in any kind of “normal” now…

So, we went and did the paperwork… She’s got to stay and be spayed today… They are closed tomorrow and so I can pick her up anytime after 10AM on Monday… (ask me how close to 10AM I plan on being there!!!)…

I looked for a sweater for her, but even the 'EX-Small' sizes at the pet store were twice the size of her… The best I can do for now is to have a few blankees ready for her, and once she’s home here with us, I can make a sweater for her… Then it will fit for sure… Anything else will just hang on her like a 'big sister’s hand-me-down that is two sizes too big'…

Last night, it all started to sink in… That I had finally found the cuddle-bunny I’d been looking for… And that things were working out that she’d actually be coming home with us… I’m still sorta/kinda overwhelmed that I was the winner of the lottery… I do know all the odds were stacked against me, including my own bad luck at things that I really want…

Now, here’s the part that I referred to at the beginning of this “war & peace” Press… Last night after calling Paul and telling him that we’d won the lottery, he revealed that he’d spent the afternoon so far doing nothing more but searching the Internet for a teacup Chihuahua… After hearing that, I was floored and overwhelmed… As much as he didn’t want to add another dog to our motley crew, he’d gone to those efforts to attempt to find one… When I asked why, he told me that he didn’t like what he saw when he’d left for work… The “so-down-in-the-dumps” attitude that I’d been in and just how much passion I had to save a little dog instead of seeing another one die…

Her name is now Diva… And for hours, Desiree and I have been bouncing around saying “We’re getting a Diva”… LOL… We have the “Diva purse” already, food of course, and I’ve gotten a black collar (with diamonds of course), leash, etc… I’m working on soft blankees for her and am counting the hours until Monday… I’m some kind of happy camper…

This morning, I checked the shelter’s website and Diva’s picture and information has already been removed… That tickled me too… And I can’t wait to share photos of her on Monday… I’m keeping my fingers crossed so that Rogaine, YogiBear and BooBooDog accept her nicely… And I’ve embarrassed Paul by telling him JUST how GREAT and NICE he was… LOL…

A new adventure for us has begun… And I can’t wait to start experiencing our life with Diva being a part of it…

As Always,
The Lady