It's Nice Here

Read Millie's whole story here -

When I was a senior in college, a rescue group from back home posted a picture on Facebook of a dog who had been abandoned at a vet clinic and might be at risk of being put to sleep.  I immediately fell in love with the sad little dog in this picture and got to work.

I went to college 5 hours away, so the next weekend I made a trip home to pick her up. The rescue group arranged for her tests, shots and dental work, and I was set to pick her up on Saturday morning. That Friday night I swear I was more excited than a kid on Christmas! When I got to the vet, I told them who I was and they just handed her over the counter with a big bag of food and some eye drops and wished us good luck! I remember walking her out to the car and she looked so skinny and fragile, she looked more like a little lamb than a dog. Poor girl was terrified of absolutely everything... she shook violently in my arms and jumped at every little sound. The ride home was almost an hour long and I was so afraid she was going to pee in my lap! (She didn't!)

Her name was Vera, and all I knew about her was that she was about 10 years old, blind, and suffered from separation anxiety, among other things. She has a tattoo in her right ear that I believe says "RON" but have never been able to find any meaning or reason for it. She was already fixed and microchipped, which makes me think she was loved and cared for at some point, but now the whole left side of her face is beat up and she flinches at even the slightest things. For weeks I wondered if she even had a tail!

I read countless books, blogs and articles about rescue and abused animals, and I decided to change her name to give her a bit of a fresh start right away. She slept in her kennel the first night, and the second night I left her out to pick where she wanted to sleep... she snuggled right up with me and didn't move all night long!

It's now been 3 years since I adopted her and she has made so much progress!  She sticks as close to me as she can, but she is now much more open to saying hi to strangers. She's not very playful, but a few times a week she gets really hyper and excited and we run around and play for 5 or 10 minutes. She doesn't go potty inside anymore unless I am gone for a long time; her kennel is her safe haven and she is happy to sleep in it all day long if I can't be home.

She is 12 years old and in excellent health, other than her eye. The dryness in her left eye has caused an infection, causing swollen glands in the neck, which has given her a severe cough and worsened the "reverse sneeze" that many small dogs get. Her right eye isn't quite so damaged, and she has 10 - 20% vision which is just enough to help her navigate around most of the time.