One day we got a call from a shelter in Roanoke, VA saying that they had two cute little cinnamon, female Chows. The puppies were left outside the shelter office door even though they were open and there were people inside the office.

We met one of the ladies from the shelter, picked up the puppies, and took them home. The puppies were absolutely terrified. The two little girls would roll over and scream, defacating on themselves when you even looked at them. We worked with them until they finally trusted us not to hurt them.

We finally found homes for both the girls. Keiko went to a young couple that adopted another female at the same time. Minshanko went to a young family who adopted a male from us a number of months earlier.

Unfortunately, the family that had adopted Minshanko had a new baby who proved to be allergic to the two Chows. So, upon advice from their pediatrician, they had to give Chas and Minshanko back to us. We then placed Minshanko with an older couple, but they eventually decided that she was a bit much for them and returned her to us.

One day a single mom and her two sons came to one of our adoption days, saw Minshanko, and fell in love with her. So, Min finally had her forever home. When we delivered Min to her new home, she was greeted by one of the cats of the house. Min had never had any cats of her own before, so was very intrigued with that small meowing creature. She kept bothering the kitty even though she'd been warned off several times with some very vehement growls. Finally Minshanko pushed it to the point that she got scratched across her nose for her troubles. We told her new family how to handle the introduction of Min to the household and kitty family. A week later, all was well and there were no more incidents between feline and canine.

When we placed Min with her new family, she was a bit shy, but was soon very well socialized and although not always sure of strangers, did much better than that little puppy we'd first rescued. Unfortunately, her family fell upon hard times and they could no longer keep her, so we took her back and began looking for that very special home for a very special little girl.

After a while, we decided that no one wanted our girl as she was older than what they all were looking for, so we decided that she was now the latest member of our family. It remained that way for a few years. Then one day a young couple came to our adoption day and fell in love with her. They KNEW Min was only at the adoption day for socialization as we had explained that carefully... But they were looking for a sweet Chow that would get along with their cats. We knew that it would be selfish on our part to keep Min when she could have a lovely home where she would be the center of attention rather than one of the pack. Not that we couldn't and wouldn't continue to give her all the love she wanted, but we knew they would give her the kind of care and love we wanted for Min. So, reluctantly, but with much love, we let our Min leave our home and move in with her new mom and dad, and family of kitties.

Donations

Chow Rescue of Northern Virginia is a non-profit organization. If you would like to make a donation by credit card to Chow Rescue of No. VA, you can register for online payments at PayPal. You can also make a donation by check payable to Michael McBee at P.O. Box 2083, Falls Church, VA 22042-2083.

Page created by: Chow Rescue of No. VA
3 February 2000