Popolo Raven (Black Raven) came out of Lenoir County SPCA in North Carolina. The litter had witnessed the owners shoot parent dogs with a shotgun and then the man attempted to decapitate the dad dog (Hoover) with an axe or hatchet. Hoover escaped and made it to a neighbor's home. They took him in to a vet and reported the owners for cruelty. The parent dogs and pups were confiscated and sent to the SPCA. Hoover had heartworms, attempted beheading injuries, and shotgun wounds; but he survived all the treatments for everything, caught pneumonia and died.

The pups were all so traumatized by what they had witnessed that they shut down. When we got Popolo Raven, he was so scared that he shook constantly and hid in any dark cubbyhole he could find as far from humans as possible. We force fed him love; about a month later he started coming out of his hiding place to interact with the other dogs.

We then got a call from our ladies down at the NC SPCA on Kalima Waiu (Cream of the Milk). We once again drove down and met them at our usual meeting place on the NC/VA border. We took Popolo with us, and the two pups had a wondrous reunion in the snow. Po had appeared to be deaf when we first got him; however, it apparently was traumatic deafness that he eventually got over.

Popo's sister Kalima, however, never has been able to hear. We originally had wanted to keep Po, but since his sister had such special needs, we kept her and found him a Really Good home with a wonderful couple who'd adopted another pound Chow, Gus Han, from us about a year earlier. The boys are spoiled shamelessly and extremely well care for. The two boys are really great friends and miss one another whenever they are apart.