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| Name: |
Chica
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Age: |
Five years old
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| Gender: |
Female |
Breed: |
Smooth-Coated Chihuahua |
| Home: |
Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA |
I
never in my life thought I would own a Chihuahua. I always thought
they were yappy, cranky, nervous "accessory dogs" that bit and shook all
the time. I was a big dog person, and wanted nothing to do with
Chihuahuas. And then I met Chica.
I was working at the SPCA during my senior year last spring when Chica
was given up by her owners because she "couldn't be house trained." She
was so tiny and scared that the person in charge of the dogs didn't want
to put hr in a regular dog kennel, and she ended up in a crate in the
laundry room, where it was warm and quiet. When I made a trip in to grab
some fresh towels for the cats, I saw her huddled in the back of her
crate, scared out of her wits, and felt terrible. She had a big sign on
her cage that said not to open the crate because she had bitten someone
out of fear, but I opened it anyway and began to talk to her.
Little by little, I was able to coax her to the front of the crate. Her
ears were back, her tail was tucked between her legs, and her eyes were
huge- she was begging for help and comfort. I had to finish my shift,
but every time I got a chance I stopped by the laundry room to talk to
her and give her treats. By the end of the day, I had managed to coax
her into my arms.
She became my little companion at work. I carried her around when I was
tending to the other animals and held her on my lap at the front desk.
All she wanted was to be held- being alone in her crate terrified her.
When the weekend came, I brought her home for a "vacation" from the
kennel. Though my parents weren't exactly pleased, Chica made herself
right at home- curling up on the couch to nap, sleeping in bed with me
at night and begging for scraps under the table. And, contrary to what
hr previous owners had said, Chica has never had a single accident in
the house. As she began to become more comfortable, her fear subsided
and her true personality began to emerge.
When the weekend ended, I was heartbroken about having to bring her back
to the shelter that terrified her so much. However, that never ended up
happening- Chica won over ever member of our family, and we decided to
adopt her!
We have never regretted that decision. She has been a member of our
family for almost a year now, and she adds so much happiness to our
lives every day. She is many things I feared a Chihuahua would be -
yappy, shivery and very protective of the people she loves - but she is
also extremely loving, affectionate, funny and energetic. She has had a
really rough life so far - after doing some research, I found that she
was born in a puppy mill in the Midwest and had had three different
homes before arriving at the shelter - but she has found a loving,
permanent home with my family.
It has taken almost a year for her to get over the trauma of her
tumultuous life and series of abandonments by people she trusted, but
she is finally happy and comfortable with us and trusts us infinitely.
When she first arrived at our house, she would scream in fear if she was
touched on her tail or back legs, and had very bad separation anxiety.
Now she has really come out of her shell and has tons of personality!
She loves to run around and act silly, chasing cats or geese (which are
usually much bigger than her!). She has also learned her commands very
readily with food rewards - she knows the basics like "sit," "come" and
"down" as well as words like "treat" "ride in the car" and "crate" - she
is a very smart girl!
I am now in college in another state, and every time I go home to visit
she is very excited to see me and greets me with lots of kisses and
excited yips. She is showered with affection every waking minute, gets
to run free on the cranberry bog or beach near our house every day, goes
for plenty of car rides (her favorite!) and gets more treats and table
scraps than she really needs. She is a great little dog, and we look
forward to spending many years with her.
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