Teenie's Story
She came into my life at a time when I needed her...and she needed me. Shortly after I lost my precious Gibby to an autoimmune disease, I received a call from my friend Nan telling me there was a female Maltese who was in need of a good home. She was a brood bitch from a backyard breeder outside of Nashville, Tennessee who was dumped on a kennel there. She was bleeding out from Pyometra, had a mammary tumor and had a severe corneal abrasion. The kennel owner she was dumped on gave her the vet care she needed but could not keep her. I contacted her to make arrangements for the pick-up.
We decided on the Saturday before Memorial Day, 2001. I drove for 11 hours, anxious, excited, worried...all sorts of feelings were running through me but I knew, sight unseen, I would love her and I would have her as my very own. The time moved slowly but finally, I was there.
When I first saw Teenie, I was shocked. This tiny little girl was skin and bones. Her hair was cut very badly and she was stained brown. Her left eye had an obvious corneal scratch and she had abscesses on her abdomen. The scars from her spay and her mammary tumor removal were clearly visible. When I held her, she trembled in my arms, light as a feather and looked for all the world as almost dead.
We did not stay long at the kennel.
I wanted to get her outside in the fresh air and sunshine. I had bought a little harness and leash and a carry crate for her at the local PetSmart before going to pick her up. I gently placed the harness and leash on her and out we went into the fresh air. Teenie stood there for a moment and just sniffed the air and looked at the sky. Then she started to walk...in fast, small, circles. It was then that I realized that this sweet, pathetic creature had never seen the light of day, had never been outside of a small crate, had never really had a chance at a normal life. And I cried. I cried for her, for the life she had know. I cried for the tattoo in her ear that said "Lily". I cried because I had no name for her. And then I stopped crying. I picked up this tiny baby and I cradled her in my arms and with all of the love I had, I promised her I would never let anything bad happen to her EVER again in her life. I promised her I would give her the love she deserved and that I would always be there for her, no matter what.
I discovered a lot of things about her during that evening and night and throughout the next week. She had been debarked. She could not walk on carpet very well. Her back legs were bent from being kenneled. And she was very smart. She immediately went on a pee pad. She instinctively knew I would take care of her. As she slept with me in a bed that night...comfortable, safe, secure, it dawned on me that it was probably the best night's sleep she had in the last seven years. I barely slept because I kept watching her breathe. I kept looking at that little face, so beautiful and so peaceful. And I knew she was mine and I was hers. Irrevocably.
It has been almost two years since I introduced her to her new brother Teddy and her new Daddy. Since then she got a name and since then she has gone from 3 pounds to 6 and grew a beautiful, flowing coat and she has learned to trust people again. We have been through a lot. The development of cataracts. The removal of one cataract from her left eye and surgery to repair a serious eye injury in the other. From sightedness to almost total blindness. From neglected to pampered. From abused to loved.
There is a bond there that I cannot explain. I love my boys with all of my heart but Teenie IS my heart. I thank God for each and every day that I have her and I find joy in the wag of her tail when she smells my hand and the gentle kisses she gives me. She is the sweetest, most adorable creature I have ever had the honor to love. My mission is to give her at least as many wonderful years of life as she had bad ones. And I think I can do that. We have an understanding she and I...I will take care of her and all she has to do is BE.
As I write this, I am looking at her sleeping peacefully next to my chair. The gentle rise and fall of her chest is a reassurance that all is well with the world and life is good. It does not get any better than this.
Teenie is my rescue baby. I am honored to be able to tell her story...for Teenie, and for my friends' puppymill rescues: Angel Lily Girl, Cupid, Kyra Belle Joy, Sebastian, Baby, Baci, Willie, Puppy, Mira, Ivy, Buster, Jake, Effie Mae, Teddy, Timmy, Tommy, and the hundreds of others who were saved from life in the mills. We need to remember that there are thousands more, living on the wire, who wait...they wait for rescue, they wait for love, they wait for freedom. May God Bless them all.
Deb
