PS: he's dream is to be an engineer in the speech recognition field - currently he's support staff at sensory.

Happy thanksgiving!

Hannelie

Tuffy 2.5 weeks after surgery

For those of you who don't know me, I was born in a "Puppy Mill" in Elkland, MO owned by Thomas and Jean Rippee on September 19, 2005. Before I picked out my mom on November 25, 2005, I'd been shipped from Missouri to California, had an operation to repair an inguinal hernia; poked, prodded and examined and tossed into a glass kennel at Pacific Pets pet store with a young Maltese whose bark could shatter glass. All this before I was nine weeks old.

My Certificate of Pedigree is just a family tree. Nobody on it has "CH" (or champion) in front of their names. My birth father's name is "Dandy Agustus Bush" and my birth mother's name is "Sissy's Tootoo by T and J". On November 21, 2005 I was given a physical and my "report card" (that's what it says) has "appears normal" x'd by every checkpoint. And four days later I met my mom. That was the very best day of my life. It was the best day of hers, too, but she didn't know it for a couple of hours. I just hung in there while she played with everybody, including that annoying Maltese, until it was just me and her. Yup. I used every ounce of telepathic energy that God gave me until it hit her. WE ARE FAMILY!! 

I am loved for who I am, which is pretty lucky. I had a grade 4 luxated patella on my left leg (now maybe only a 2), and maybe a grade 2 on my right. It doesn't hurt but it will cost Mom about $3000 to fix it someday. I was 2.1 pounds when she adopted me, even though I was 2.4 pounds only 4 days earlier. My body is maybe a bit long, and I am sorta round in the middle. I cough sometimes when I get excited....like maybe I have a little problem with my "trachea". Some of us pups do as it's congenital. 

My whole point on writing this is to tell you that you have to love with your heart and not with your eyes. If you go to a shelter, a breeder, a pet store, or pound you're going to be adopting somebody that will love you for absolutely ever no matter what you look like, even if you get sick. There are no guarantees like what comes with a new car. We are companions, not trophies. All we want is to love and be loved...in our forever home by our "for always" family.

Make somebody's Christmas holidays a lot brighter.  

Adopt, don't shop!

Off my soapbox for now...

Mary-Margaret

Chaplain - Yorkie Brigade Chapel
"Yorkie prayers are Angel's wishes!"

"A dog has lots of friends because he wags his tail and not his tongue." Anonymous