Happy Tails: A Family for Miss Daisy

My happy tail begins on December 4, 2006 when I got to foster the cutest little Shih Tzu named Miss Daisy who is a puppy mill survivor. You see for 7 long years she lived only to have puppies for the millers to make money.

Nothing was ever done for her. She had to have all of her front teeth pulled since they did not see to it that she had good food to eat and the nourishment to help keep her bones and teeth strong.

She lived in a wire cage 2×2x2 in all types of weather outside. When she came to live with us she had gray fur, now her true color is white and apricot and a little grey around the tips of her ears. She was thin and frail.

She had so much to learn and experience and we have enjoyed watching her go through her puppy stage at 7 then 8 and now 9 years of age. She has progressed so quickly that she from following my other pets within one week was housetrained and has her special way of telling you she needs to go out and potty. She didn’t know what to do in the yard, she runs and plays and sniffs everything. Snow was a fun experience for her as well. She loves prancing through until her little feet get too much snow clumped on them that she cannot budge or her stomach will be sliding across the mounds of snow in the yard and she sort of gets stuck.

She was afraid of everything at first but now there are only 2-3 things one of them is thunderstorms, the others is a hose, and the last is a gunshot even if on TV she will get up and run to the bedroom.

She has her own bed in the living room. We had to start out simple for her first we started with just a blanket, then added a pillow now she has one blanket on the floor then we wrap the pillow in the blanket. But don’t get me wrong she has a bed anywhere she wants to sleep. We always have a comforter down on the floor in our bedroom for all of our dogs and they have dog beds under that to lay on as well.

Food was another big thing. She never had a bowl with fresh food and water. She knew what a potato chip bag was and exactly how to get it open when we accidently dropped one on the floor one day. She got up and pounced on it and started shaking it to get it opened. Sshe now eats one good meal a day (don’t want her to lose her girly figure).

It was like magic the first time she actually got one of the squeeky animals to squeek. See it is really hard for her to bite down hard enough to squeek it without front teeth (well she has three).

She now is just one of the family. She loves to ride in the car, she loves treats and teasing the other dogs with hers since they eat faster than she does she waits for them to finish theirs and hen teases with hers. She will bark at you if you are not paying attention to her and she wants to play or she will bark at the others and get them all howling to play with them as well.

She studies everything that you are doing. She will still slip into her sit and stare mode (hard to get it out of her since for 7 yrs that is all she did.

Anyone that has any doubts about adopting an older dog with a past such as this needs to meet Miss Daisy they will soon change their mind. She is a keeper in my book and always has been since the day I saw her. No one else will ever have the chance to mistreat this darling dog of mine. Where there was once sadness and a dullness in her eyes is now filled with happiness and bright bright eyes.

Kathy T, Cincinnati, OH