Saturday, January 4, 2014

Meet Lilly

I briefly mentioned our new baby Lilly in my last post, tonight I am doing a post all about her as I promised I would.

I adopted Lilly formerly Sweetie, from a local Pomeranian & other small breed dog rescue here in Oregon.
 Displaced Pets Rescue.
Lilly is a 3 legged dog, Leo (our 3 legged cat)  inspired me to adopt another "Special needs" fur-kid. Lilly is about 2.5 years old and weighs 3.8lbs she is the smallest other than Little Bunny Fufu of our fur-kids.

I felt like when I saw Lilly listed for adoption on Facebook that she was meant to be with me. Just a couple days before I first saw Lilly on Facebook. I was out shopping on black Friday with my Sister Chantel, and I was telling her how I decided I only wanted to adopt rescue dogs in the future ( way in the future), I also said I would be very willing to adopt a black dog, because I recently read statistics that a black animal is something like 10 times less likely to be adopted from a shelter or rescue, and I think they are all adorable no matter the color so it might as well be black! I then also mentioned I totally wouldn't mind at all if the dog only had 3 legs since having Leo. Then 2 days after this convo I see Lilly  who is in a local rescue, she is black and 3 legged, and a Pomeranian (my favorite breed) it seriously felt like it was meant to be or a sign or something. 
When I first saw Lilly on Facebook I instantly felt something. But was not at all planning on adopting a dog for many more years, since I already have 3. I was under the impression my city limit was 3 dogs like the neighboring city I grew up in limit is. A few days passed and I kept thinking about Lilly who was then "Sweetie". I contacted my city and was shocked to find out my city limit is 4 dogs! I truly feel like it was meant to be. So I filled out the application and was approved to go meet Lilly. I adopted her the following week the same day I went to meet her.
12.10.13
Lilly doesn't let missing a leg slow her down!
This photo was taken on Christmas day when we took my 4 dogs & my parents 2 Shih Tzu's on a big family dog walk. Lilly walks great on her leash. Her walk is really cute it's a little hoppy.


Lilly has already learned how to go up the stairs too. Still working on learning to go down. She seemed confused about the stairs when we first brought her home so she must not have had stairs before. It's so cute how Bentley goes down and nudges her to go up, in the video.

Lilly was such a angel for her bath.
Lilly is also perfectly potty trained already, which is so nice. She is potty pad trained, but will ask to go outside too which is so perfect because that's how my other dogs are trained too.
 
 
Save A Life Rescue!
I have recently in the past 8 months or so became a lot more knowledgeable about how important it is to adopt from Shelters & Rescues. As you probably know if you read my blog regularly, I purchased Bella, Lacie, & Bentley as puppies, as well as Billie my Persian cat from a breeder as a kitten. At this time I was very unaware of how many animals are being euthanized every day in shelters. It breaks my heart that perfectly healthy dogs & cats are being put down everyday because of simply over crowding, and from now on I only plan to adopt. What opened my eyes to this problem was articles posted on Facebook I started "liking" a lot of rescue pages, and it has truly opened my eyes to rescuing. I understand the desire to have a cute little puppy, but please consider that cute little puppy is only a puppy for such a short time please just consider saving a life of an adult dog or cat whom will have a much hard time finding a family than a puppy will.

 Oregon the state I live in, does have high adoption rate compared to other states, but it is still defiantly not high enough! These are the statistic the kind lady from the rescue I adopted Lilly from sent to me.
"This report for 2012 (came out in april 2013) they were still at 14% euth for dogs in 2012, which is within the state average"
 
 
Please Don't Support Puppy Mills
Another huge problem is puppy mills and the more people who buy puppies especially from pet stores the more they are supporting puppy mills. If you are going to get a puppy, please make sure you are not getting a puppy mill puppy. When you see that cute puppy at the pet store please look at images on the Internet of the poor adult parent dogs of these puppies, living lives of slavery breeding with no love and little to no basic care, most don't even get names just a number. I feel sick when I think about that fact that my sweet Bella possibly came from a puppy mill type situation. Again at the time I didn't even really know what a puppy mill was. When I went to the breeders house to pick up Bella she did not invite us inside, she had us stand outside, while she brought Bella too us. When she brought Bella out, Bella wouldn't hardly even open her eyes, my Mother questioned it, and one of the breeders kids said " it is because she has been in the dark she's not used to the light" the breeder glared at her child and quickly shut her up. I did get to see Bella's Mother she happened to be running around in the yard with the kids, but when I asked to see the Father I was told he was "unavailable" with no explanation, whatever that means. I am so happy I did end up getting Bella because I love her so much, and she is a great dog, and in a way I feel like I saved her from that place, but I feel soooo bad that I possibly supported a puppy mill type operation because I was uneducated. The more people that buy these puppies the more the problem grows. Also a lot of these puppies later end up in the shelters. At least I know I kept that from ever happening to Bella because I promise to all my pets I will have them their entire lives. I know when you see a cute puppy at a pet store, you may think to yourself well someone needs to buy this puppy, which is true and how I used to think, but hopefully eventfully if people stop supporting puppy mills the problem will someday lessen, I can only hope. The reason most puppy mill puppies are in best stores is because a good breeder would never sell a puppy not knowing exactly what type of home it was going too, puppy mill type breeders could care less and are happy to sell them to pet stores. It is all about supply & demand. The only way to stop the supply is to stop the demand! I am so thankful Bella has not had any really major health issues like many puppies that come from those kind of situations do. Lacie & Bentley both came from non-breeders who's family dogs just had puppies,  it's unfortunate that because of all the over breeding in puppy mills this has become unacceptable by most who promote rescuing, but I do now see why, there is way more dogs than there is homes for, and by breeding you are only contributing to this problem. In a way every new puppy born is taking away a home from a shelter pet.

I also just want to say I am sorry if  I sound like I am knocking breeders, I know there are still good breeders and not all are bad by any means, and if you really have to get a puppy rather than adopting please find a responsible breeder, who loves and takes good care of their dogs. I truly feel bad for the responsible breeders because puppy mills are ruining it for them, but at this point we have way to many breeders. There is way more dogs than there is homes for, something has to be done and spreading the word about adopting and rescuing is important.
This quote is one the Rescue I adopted Lilly from uses, that I really like.
"Adopting from a rescue saves two lives.
The one you bring home and the one you make room for"
One of my favorite quotes
 " I may not be able to change to world, but I can change the world for that one dog"
Lilly has been fitting in with my other 3 poms perfectly, they were very accepting of her. I am one proud Pom Mom.

Lilly is even already posing for pictures.
I of course had to take new group picture with Lilly included. Now I just need my sister to come over and take one with me in it too for my blog header. My bed is pretty full now, I cant believe we have 10 fur-babies. Don't worry we won't be adopting anymore for a very long while, these 10 keep me very busy, but they are so worth it, I love them so much. They are my Fur-ever babies!  

 Please spay & neuter your pets & really considering rescuing when looking for a new furry family member, you could save a life!

18 comments:

  1. Great post Janae. Lilly is such a sweetie (her original name did fit her) and it seems like she just fits right in. I also agree with everything you wrote--I will always rescue from now on. Being a former breeder I do believe there is some importance to have real reputable breeders of the breeds we love but there enough people already buying those dogs...and then sometimes giving them up when they are no longer puppies.I too will rescue from now on.

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  2. Oh Janae,how lovely to care so much for such helpless little fur babies. I love the little video. They are so sweet helping Lily,quite amazing

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  3. Janae', you are so passionate about caring for animals...you inspire me. Your great Uncle Bill has been rescuing dogs for years. I hope he reads this post. It is wonderful how well Lily was adopted by all of your fur babies and fit in so well.

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  4. Cute pictures. Bless you for rescuing. We have as well, just not so many, hah.

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  5. I love your heart Janae! The love you exude for your fur babies just fills my heart with happiness! I think Lilly was meant for you and you for her! What a sweet and precious little soul she is. Blessings for all you do for God's precious little creatures! Saralee

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  6. Kudos to you Janae for a very well thought out and educated blog post. I too had purchased ChiChi seven years ago before I was educated about the horrors of backyard breeding. I have also made a life long commitment to always adopt and not shop. Volunteering at our local shelter has really made me aware of the problem of too many dogs out there and not enough homes. My favorite quote in the post was 'In a way every new puppy born is taking away a home from a shelter pet'. So very true. Thank you for caring for our furbabies out there. ~Annie

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  7. very well said !! agree with you 100%

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  8. What a cutie pie! She got a very good mommy and she deserves it! Great story!

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  9. Bless your heart Janae, the video is precious!!! Lori

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  10. What a heartwarming post! thanks for sharing Lilly's story.

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  11. The video of Lilly learning to go up the steps (with a little help from her friend) was so sweet! She is very similar in facial expression and coloring to our little pom, Fuzzy, but she is much tinier than he is. He is close to 9 lbs. There is a picture of Fuzzy on my blog, if you'd like to see him. Your home must be bursting at the seams with Pom-energy!

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  12. We have always rescued. I am so glad that people are educating themselves about the shelter problems. The oldest animal we rescued was a 10 year old cat that had never lived anywhere but a no kill shelter. She lived with us for 10 years and passed away at 20. We rescued a black 1 1/2 year old black chow/lab and she passed at the age of 15. Right now we have a 10 year old Rotti mix, an 11 year old black cat, a 7 year old cat (he was only 6 weeks old when my daughter climbed into her apt. dumpster on trash day to rescue him before the trashman came) and the most loving, goofiest 5 year old Pit bull that was rescued at the age of 5 months. I to am sharing facebook posts of animal rescue sites-mostly pit bulls, as they are an extremely misunderstood and maligned bred and are the most likely to be put down. They are excellent family dogs but you rarely hear the good-just the bad. Bless you for having the rescue heart.
    I love your blog and look forward to seeing your posts.

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  13. You have a wonderful "fur baby" family! I love Lily! I too have only rescued animals. Growing up on a farm we always had cats and dogs (some dropped off at our driveway). I love all dogs and cats! When I got married we found out about adoption of animals and that is the only way I will get an pet unless I see one in need like I did a couple years ago. I had a dog, Lexi, whom we adopted as an older pet. We had her about 8 years and then it was time to say good bye. She was very sick but I know she passed away knowing she was loved. I have also adopted 3 cats from our local shelter. The first one I adopted 14 years ago and I am sad to say that I lost her yesterday (1-7-14). (She died naturally at home.) We knew that she was having difficulties but it seemed the last couple of days she was better but I guess she was needed in kitty heaven to help control the mouse population their. I have also rescued a cat from a friends farm...Lucy was "dropped" off at their farm. You could tell she was a kitten that was used to people and used to being in a home. Our friends can not have pets in their home because of severe allergies so they asked me to take her. What a blessing she is. I have heard many many stories of puppy mills and I just shutter at what those doggies have to go through. I love my pets to much to make them sad and miserable.
    Keep posting on the babies...I love seeing them!

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  14. She is so lucky to be adopted by you and your fur family! I volunteer at no kill cat shelter and the black cats are often slow to be adopted. Our 3 legged cats seem to go to forever homes more quickly thank God. She is so cute and I love that she is already posing and dressing up! Happy New Year!

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  15. Sooooo cute! I actually first time saw a black hair Pomeranian

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  16. This is a wonderful post and you are truly an extraordinary godsend to your furbabies.

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  17. Love that video...it is so darling!!!

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  18. What a wonderful thing you did to rescue Lily and what a beautiful little thing she is! We have 2 little rescue Poodles, one of which was in a very bad way when we got her but 8 years on she is now the happiest most playful puppy and we couldn't be more proud of both of them!
    All your little fur-kids look so happy and look after, well done, if only there were more people out there like you!!

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