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Likes: Being with her forever mom, walks, and doing the "fancy pants dance."
Pet-Peeves: Strangers, sudden loud noises or movements, being left in her kennel when home alone, and when mommy pets the (grrrrr) cat!
Favorite Toy: Mommy
Favorite Food: Vitality Brand Dog Food
Favorite Walk: Wherever Joan is walking at the time
Best Tricks: High Five!
Arrival Story: Hello! I'm happy you dropped by, so let me start by telling you a bit about myself. I'm afraid my story is pretty sad...but it has a happy ending.
I am about three years old and until late May 2009, I lived in a terrible puppy mill in Kennewick, Washington with nearly 400 other Alaskan Eskimo dogs like me. The people there made us live in crates, shopping carts, and just about anything they could find. The food was terrible, and because I was a submissive dog, I often only got to eat the leftover scraps of the more dominant dogs...or if I had to, their droppings. I've already lost a couple teeth because of the bad things I was eating.
My fur, which is normally a pretty white, as you can see is kind of carmel colored. That's because those people never cleaned our cages and we all had to live in our our feces and urine. (I can't wait until my fur is white again so I can have a better picture!) No one ever ever played with us, and I was never allowed out of my cage except when they needed to breed me, which they did about three times a year ever since I was able. It was hopeless, and then on Friday, May 29, a miracle happened...
It was so scary! Suddenly all these people showed up and starting roaming around the place. We didn't know what was happening, but then they started taking us out of our cages! We were all really frightened because we didn't understand that these people were taking us away from the awful lady who owned the place, but they handled us gently and were kind. There were too many of us to be taken to taken to the same place, but shelters all across the Northwest stepped up and invited us in. I was with a group of 90 dogs that ended up at the Portland Oregon Humane Society.
The people at the Humane Society were so nice, but I was still really scared because I had never known anything other than the filth of the puppy mill. The workers cleaned me up and gave me an operation so that no one can make me have puppies anymore. It seemed strange to have good food and a clean place to sleep. Then on June 4th, the Humane Society invited all these new people to come and look at us! This one lady was looking at me in my cage, and asked to get to know me. The workers put me in her lap, and I was SO scared at first because I just didn't want anyone to hurt me. After a bit, though, I started to realize that this lady seemed to really care for me, and I started to relax a bit. I didn't know it at the time, but her name is Joan Chappell, and she would be the best thing that ever happened to me.
The lady and I spent a couple hours together, and the next thing I knew, I was adopted! It was a long ride in the car, but we finally arrived at my new forever home. There were more people to meet, which was scary, and some kind of creature called a cat that just stared at me from underneath the furniture. At first I didn't want to come out of my cage because it was all so new, but once I started to feel more comfortable in my new surroundings I started to explore. Wow, what a great place! Soft things to lay on, clean places to sleep, good food and fresh water to drink, and the my new forever family treats me like I'm a princess. Well, everybody but the cat, Noel, who seems happy just to ignore me so far.
My new forever family gave me the name "Kaya" which is an Eskimo word that means "Stay and never go back." I am still gettings used to people and find myself being very cautious when anyone approaches, but I've bonded most tightly to Joan, my new forever mommy. She always talks to me in a very nice voice, tells me I'm cute, and even lets me take naps in her lap now and then. Sometimes we go outside, and I'm slowly learning to take a walk on a leash. We just walked a little ways at first, and after a while I worked up to all the way around the block! It's kind of scary because there are strange noises and people everywhere, but mommy seems brave and it helps me feel secure.
There are so many new things to learn in my forever home - everything from knowing where to potty to figuring out how to navigate stairs (which, I must say, was a CHALLENGE!). My new family is very patient and is helping me along the way. If you would like to keep up with my progress, please visit my web site at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kaya rescued09.
Bio: Kaya was one of the 371 Alaskan Eskimo Dogs rescued from one of the worst puppy mills ever in Kennewick, Washington in May of 2009.
Forums Motto: Never to be Abused Again
The Groups I'm In: Fur Frenzy, Cairn Talk, E.S.K.I.E.S., Northwest American Eskimo Dogs, Pups N Purrs, ~Furiends Furever~, ~~~*♥Dog Park USA♥*~~~
The Last Forum I Posted In: Romeo needs some POTP Please
Well, Kaya is spending the night at the Vet’s tonight. Ever since we brought her home she has had a problem with frequency of urination. The doc thinks it may be cists or perhaps a bladder infection, but the surgery she had before she was adopted has left her with a very, very small bladder. They have not been able to get a urine sample through any of the invasive methods, so they are hoping she will pee through some grating on the floor of her kennel so they can get a readable sample. The frequency of urination had been increasing and she had been showing less desire to eat. To my surprise, she has actually gained a little weight, up to about 9.3 lbs which is a good thing. Ramzi is sure missing her, especially on our evening walk which we always do together. Hopefully it will just be one day and things will be back to normal.
Well I’ll be! We were contacted by the Oregon Humane Society and they would like to feature Kaya and Ramzi’s story during a short segment on their Telethon on October 18. Never would have guessed that our two rescues would end up on TV, but what a great opportunity to support adoption for other Kennewick Eskies.
We had 104 degrees in Centralia yesterday – I’ve lived here for 49 years and have never seen anything like it. Today is predicted to get up to 106! Thank goodness for our one room that has air conditioning so we can get the dogs and us out of the heat for a while. The latest info from the National Weather Service extends the heat wave all the way through Friday before our natural ocean air conditioning gets turned back on. This is crazy for where we live – we are known for rain, cloudy skies, and people who drink too much coffee because of depression from lack of sun-light. Our usual forecast is pretty simple – it’s either raining, or it’s about to. When we hit 85 degrees we think we’re melting. 106???? I may have to take a Michael’s advice and head to New Orleans where it’s COOLER!
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