Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday Miss Ivy!

A VERY Happy Birthday to our beloved Ivy Girl. She is 14 years old! A very special girl who has touched our lives. We found out about Ivy on a Scottie news group in 2000, shortly after moving back to Colorado. Her rescue picture was pathetic. She was thin, shaved, haunted. She had been rescued from a Puppy Mill in Arkansas. After many, many brutal C-Sections, she was going to be destroyed as she could no longer produce litters. Rescue stumbled across her and thankfully took her in.

We fell in love with her picture. The only problem was her aggression to other dogs - she went for Suzi's jugular and put her in the hospital. We had Angus already, a vibrant puppy. So, after applying for her, I emailed back and declined. I was uncertain about her aggression.

Thank Goodness, something changed in me, and I KNEW we had to have her. I emailed back begging for her. We flew her out from Arkansas, beating the heat, and picked her up at Colorado Springs Airport in May 2000. There she was. A gentle, beautiful, terrified little soul.

We brought her home and kept Angus with my Mom while Ivy adjusted. She was so shut down, she did not care if she lived or died. When we came home, she would just stare at the floor, not making eye contact. She would not pee outside, for fear of getting hit - she instead held it for up to 23 hours. She was so beaten down, a four year old with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Gradually, Ivy began to blossom. And did she ever blossom!! Playing with toys, lifting her leg to pee like Angus, chasing toads (her favorite past time in Arkansas), and thanks to her foster Mom, developed a love affair with people food.

Here we are 10 years later. Ivy has taught us so much about rescue. So much about reawakening the soul. She is such a gentle, sweet little girl. Still a little hand shy, she now enjoys a life of leisure and her cozy bed. We almost lost her in October to heart failure. Thankfully, with a medication better than humans have access to (not approved here), she is back to her youthful, cheeky self. Ivy will forever hold the most special place in our hearts.

PLEASE BOYCOTT PUPPY MILLS! Please do not buy dogs from pet stores. Be cautious of those in the paper - many are brokers who receive massive deliveries of puppies from Nebraska, Kansas etc... and then sell them locally. These are puppy mill dogs. Not only do they have health issues, we only perpetuate the problem - supply and demand. I only have to look at the damage done to our two puppy mill rescues to know they need to be eradicated. Please be sure you see one or both parents when buying a pedigree dog. For all the Ivy's and Hamish's out there. 

Happy Birthday Miss Ivy Bee!