The Story of Pippin - Part I

Right after my first blog, Hooked on Basenjis, appeared on the BRAT blog, I got a call from BRAT Coordinator Tonya Ahrens. She told me she had a little female that she had not yet put on the official adoption list, and she asked me if I would want to see a picture of her. She said this little girl had been rescued from a puppy mill which the organization had managed to get shut down, and Tonya had had her since March nursing her back to health and getting her ready for adoption. She explained that she was 3 years old and had had two litters of puppies, had been bred too young and should never had been bred at all because she was not really a good example of the breed. Now, of course, she'd been spayed, and would hopefully get a new home with a new beginning.

Just before I got this call from Tonya I had applied for Nala, a gorgeous red and white female, after missing out on 4 other dogs. Tonya said she needed a few days to consider my application as there were others who had also applied for Nala. In the meantime, Tonya asked, did I want to see a picture of Princess, the puppy mill dog?

Well, I told her I did and so she sent a picture of this tiny little dog with a sweet little face with the expression of a little lost puppy. I ran off the picture on photo paper and set it up by the computer. The more I looked at her, the more I felt this was the dog I wanted. So when Tonya called a few days after Thanksgiving, she said she had decided to give me my choice of either gorgeous Nala or the little munchkin with the temporary name of Princess. I told her I'd take the munchkin!

Jerry and I decided to bring our little BRAT boy Rufus along and meet Tonya halfway between Ohio and Missouri on Friday, December 11th, to pick up Princess. The night before our trip we got everything packed in the diesel truck before we went to bed, but when we woke up in the morning we were upset to find that the temperature had taken a nosedive during the night and Jerry's deisel truck wouldn't start! After spending nearly an hour shuffling bags from truck to car and back again, we finally got the truck started and took off on our 4 1/2 hour drive to meet Tonya and Princess.

We had agreed to meet at the Flying J Truckstop in Effingham, Illinois. We pulled up into a parking spot and almost immediately Tonya pulled up beside us, and Rufus and I got our first look at the munchkin in a carrying case in the back of Tonya's van. Tonya and I talked awhile and went over papers, agreements, and instructions. There is also an adoption fee for these rescues but it never covers the total cost of veterinarian fees and other expenses. I personally know of one dog who came to BRAT with broken bones and other injuries had a bill of well over $1,000 left over which had been was covered by generous donations.

After the adoption paperwork was taken care of, we plopped little Princess into the crate in our truck, said good-bye to Tonya, and headed back home to Ohio. As soon as we got home we turned the dogs loose in the backyard. They sniffed out each other, piddled, then both ran into the house together. They hit it off right from the very beginning. When I fed them I put down two bowls of food and they each took about two bites, then switched bowls, took another two bites or so and switched again. No growling, or baring of teeth. They romped together the rest of the evening, and I could tell Rufus was just smitten! Princess also seemed to like Rufus, although I could tell that she was still nervous about her new environment because the slightest noise or quick movement would send her running for cover.

When it finally came time to go to bed, we put Princess's crate in a warm spot in the kitchen and put the munchkin to bed. She wasn't too happy with the arrangement and made sounds more like a kitten than a dog. The next night, however, her voice got louder and she ripped up the nice little bed I'd made for her. Aha, I decided, she's a basenji after all!

Tonya had given me instructions on what to do with Princess for the first few days. She was housebroken, but Tonya said she might regress a little bit with the stress of all the changes. To work on this, I was told to find a long cord or piece of rope and tie it around my waist and attach Princess's leash to it. This way she would get used to following me around the house and would feel more secure, and it would also help to avoid accidents. The first day, I took Princess all over the house and let her sniff, opened cabinet doors, the fridge, the oven, and the dishwasher, so she'd know where noises were coming from and wouldn't be scared of them. Then I took her outside, where she explored the entire yard. She kept her tail tucked and her hind quarters down, unlike the natural bouyant carriage of a basenji. Even her paws, which should be relaxed little ovals, were broad with splayed toes and noticeably tensed toe joints as though she was trying to grip the earth for security.

All day long I took Princess outside about every 1 1/2 hours to piddle, and she seemed content to stay with me, but it was easy to see that she was very fearful of every new thing she encountered. She was always ready to dart away at an unexpected noise, and she gulped her food as though she was stealing it. Despite the fact that she acts half-starved, Princess is actually not thin, but is still the smallest adult female I've ever seen. The average female weighs aout 22-24 pounds at maturity. Princess weighs 18, and has shorter legs than a basenjis should have. Jerry says she has a beagle body with a basenji head and tail but that's an exaggeration. Actually, she's a cute little thing.

Tonya told me she'd been found in deplorable circumstances, sleeping on concrete with little callouses on her body here and there. She was put on lamisil by the Vet for an ear fungus that had turned the inside of both ears coal black . She also had ear mites, fleas, was suffering from malnutrition, and was terrified of everything. Before I adopted her Tonya had just about decided to just keep her as she felt that Princess shouldn't be around children who might be too noisy or too rough with her, and she needed a quiet, calm household with another dog that would, as she said, "show her how to be a basenji." She had seemed happiest when hanging out with a couple of young dogs at the foster home. Now that we had her home with her "forever" family, I hoped that Rufus and I would be able to bring her out of her shell...(To Be Continued)

-Joanna Garrett