Oops, I Did it Again...

Became a mommy, that is. ;-)

Have to introduce the newest member of our household...Little Missy.

A business acquaintance of Hubby's knew we had a couple of Yorkies and asked if we knew of someone who would be willing to take on an elderly dog. The dog's current owners didn't think they could handle her any more and were thinking of putting her to sleep if they couldn't find her a new home.

"Is she sick?" asked Hubby.

No.

"Vicious?"

No.

"Why in the hell would they put her to sleep then?"

Turns out, Little Missy had some peculiar habits ingrained by her original owner, and just wasn't fitting into the household, even after 8 months. The current owners had tried real hard, but they were miserable, the dog was miserable and they knew it would be hard to place her.

For the first 12 years of her life, Little Missy was the sole companion of an elderly woman. Not only did the woman HAND feed her, but apparently never allowed her to go outside. For anything. Ever. She allowed her to void whenever and wherever, and just cleaned up after her.

Maybe the dog's name was really Little Messy.

After the woman died, her niece, who is a neighbor of the current owner, took Little Missy in until they could find her a new owner. The dog, never having been trained to eat from a bowl (or it could have been grief), wasted away to 2 1/2 pounds.

The children of the current owner had lost their dog when it got hit by a car. They heard that the niece was looking for a home for Little Missy and offered theirs. How much trouble could a little Yorkie be?

LOL.

They were able to train her to eat from a bowl, and fattened her up. They were able to partially potty train her, but the poor dog is half-blind and kept getting lost in their backyard. She'd get scared and hide when they called her, so they'd have to do a lot of hunting.

They couldn't crate her at night, because she howled all night long. They couldn't leave her out of the crate, because she pooped and peed all over the house in the middle of the night. They finally came to a compromise...when she was in the house, they put her in diapers.

And let her sleep on their bed.

Above all, they had small children running around, and it scared the dog. Plus they both worked full-time, so they'd crate her for most of the day. They just didn't feel that they could handle her another winter, and being crated up most of the time was no life for her.

So we got a new baby.

Boy, is she a sweetie. After a lot of butt-sniffing, our dogs welcomed her to the pack. Maybe a little too enthusiastically at first---she was a little standoffish the first day.

We were worried a bit about the night thing, because we crate our dogs at night. But we put her carrier over in dogtown, and there hasn't been a peep out of her at all. I think she was just lonely.

As for the pooping and peeing thing...she isn't incontinent, and she doesn't soil her crate. She's had a couple of small accidents, but we let the little yorkies out every hour, and she has easily found the "potty place" outside and goes. We all just have to get used to the schedule, and she needs to let us know when she has to go, as do the other dogs.

The only real issue is that she is not a lap-sharer. While the other Yorkies are more than willing to share the "prime" snuggle spot with her (which happens to be Daddy's crotch), she isn't willing to share with them. If she gets there first, then she wants it all to herself.

The other dogs sense this, so it has become a battle over the crotch. Bet Hubby is just loving it---all these females fighting over the manly parts. ;-)

The other quirky habit is that she has a stuffed pink elephant that she drags around and humps quite frequently. Kitty (Big Kid's girlfriend) forgot a small stuffed animal she carries around in her purse (it's a mini-Tigger), and Little Missy got a hold of it last night. Tigger was completely and thoroughly assaulted.

If she wasn't already attached to her name, I think we'd call her Nova. Oddly, her hind legs are a little longer than her front, and her butt is jacked up like a '72 Chevy Nova.

All in all, I think she's going to fit right in!