Hearts of Gold

I’m amazed at that journeys each of our puppies take after leaving their first home at Foxglove Farm. The stories I love most are ones that share the healing that comes from these small creatures with their incredibly loving hearts… A recent missive from Tami P. who along with her siblings, adopted “Hooper” as a gift for her parents, my silly little Hooper who “watched shark week” and made us smile every day…

The "baby" is amazing! My dad named him Jax, he immediately bonded with my dad and mom. Two weeks after his arrival my dad went in for a “overnight” surgery. Six weeks later he was discharged to my care. There was an error with a wound vac (it was a knee replacement) and it created a large hole over his patella, exposing the bone. That required a muscle flap surgery. They over medicated him causing 2 quarts of blood to pool in the calf, requiring multiple surgery, full mobilization. Hence, he is in my care. I have a center that has hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers. The doctor wanted him in the chamber twice a day and round the clock IVs, so I moved him in my center. Hence, Jax has been basically at the center 18 hours a day. (I bring him home with me at night to let my parents rest without the worry of letting him out.) At the center we also have an autism program. and he has been with us every day for a "field trip" to visit the autistic kids at my center. No one can believe how wonderful he is with them, he is so smart. They adore him!! There are about 100 people in and out of the center daily, including about 40 children with autism as we have an autism program.

Everyone comments that he is the best puppy they have ever seen.

The adults and kids adore him. He sits at the front door waiting to greet everyone, then throughout the day goes down to the kids program and sits in music or plays in gym with them. He goes to the door when he needs to go out and someone grabs his leash and walk him. We have had several kids speak their first sentence to ask for Jax time. The kids also get to earn Jax time. He is beyond amazing, and I think the most socialized puppy ever. The building is about 28,000 sq feet and he has free access most of the time to go visit people.

Everyone loves him,,, he is the BEST!!

A Puppy Journey Takes A Turn

I took a road trip yesterday to meet Emilie who was the proud as punch new owner of our darling little Tabasco. 

Emilie was driving down from Michigan and had asked if I could meet her partway to shorten her trip a little, so I scooped up Chiquita Banana (I know, how do I come up with these names right?) and told her that her sissy had a new home and that she could ride along and keep me company on the way back. I was a bit worried about separating the two girls, they were such fast friends. I hoped if Chiquita saw Tabasco in the arms of her loving new owner it might help a bit.

Wishful thinking on my part.

Puppies are funny creatures and their journey to their forever home sometimes takes a few twists and turns.  Chiquita Banana had been reserved a couple of times and I thought both girls would be leaving at the same time but she keep popping back up as one of our available puppies.  They were equally beautiful babies, though Tabasco had already bloomed into a fluffy mass of curls that made her undeniably charming, her sister though a bit slower to change coat would have that same abundance before long.

Soon we were north by the lake and found Emilie anxiously waiting for her new puppy.  Look at the expressions in the body language of these two babies.  Tabasco already knows this is her new owner, already has that dreamy happy contented "this is my new momma" look in her eyes.

But Chiquita was another story entirely.

As Emilie drove off with Tabasco nestled in her crate beside her, I turned and saw this forlorn little person.  (I was smitten with guilt, she's clearly asking me WHY I let that strange lady take her sister away?!)

Poor baby Chiquita...

She looked back and forth for Tabasco as I soothed and coaxed and promised her that Tabasco was happy to be with her new family and she was not to worry. What a pitiful face, I had known that she would be upset but oh those eyes!

I pulled back onto the highway and I confess I drove with one hand most of the way as I tried to comfort her repeatedly smoothing her tiny forehead as we wound our way back home and to her first night without her sister.  The motion of the car finally lulled Chiquita to sleep and I drove through the evening dusk pondering how such small creatures can have hearts already so full of love.

Chiquita's home will come, I've seen the process unfold many times over the years.  One day the sun will rise and her family will find her, or that one special person who has a Chiquita Banana sized empty place in her life, and Chiquita will know the puppy joy that only comes when she begins to love the ones that are to be hers forever. 

In the meantime, it's my job to help her navigate her small journey to the place where she belongs, and helping mend little broken hearts is sometimes part of that job description.

A PUPPY POSTSCRIPT: 

This most delightful of puppies has found her way into her perfect forever home, Chiquita with her loving spirit and devoted heart will become a therapy dog for a beautiful young woman who needed a special companion.  Chiquita (now known as "Rosie") was the perfect choice to help her navigate health issues this sensitive little girl would be so well suited for.

It was quite a journey but sometimes a puppy finds her way to her home after a road full of stops and starts and detours. I’m so blessed to be part of making puppy dreams come true (sometimes for the puppy as well as her new owners).

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