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Welcome to Our Homepage!
Hello! We're happy you dropped by, so let us start by telling you a bit about ourselves. I'm afraid our story is pretty sad...but it has a happy ending.
Ramzi
and I are about three years old and until late May 2009, we lived in a terrible
puppy mill in Kennewick, Washington with 371 other American Eskimo dogs
like us. The people there made us live in crates, shopping carts, and just
about anything they could find. The food was terrible, and because Kaya was
a submissive dog, she often only got to eat the leftover scraps of the more
dominant dogs...or if she had to, their droppings. Kaya has already lost a
couple teeth because of the bad things she was eating, and Ramzi has dental
issues also.
Our fur, which is normally a pretty white, was carmel colored. That's because those people never cleaned our cages and we all had to live in our our feces and urine. Slowly but surely, our fur is turning white again and we are very happy about that! No one ever ever played with us, and we were never allowed out of our cages except when they needed to breed us, which they did about three times a year. 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. Kaya was with a group of 90 dogs that ended up at the Portland Oregon Humane Society, and Ramzi was taken in by Oregon Dog Rescue and housed by Lexi Dog Boutique.
The
people at the rescue shelters were so nice, but but we were still really scared
because we had never known anything other than the filth of the puppy mill.
The workers cleaned us up and gave us an operation so that no one can make
us 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 anymore. After a bit, though,
I started to realize that this lady seemed to really care for me, and she
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 Ispent a couple hours together, and the next thing I knew, I was adopted! It was a long ride in the car, but I 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 my new forever family treated me like a princess. Well, everybody but the cat, Noel, who seemed happy just to ignore me.
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 continue to be 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 am cute, and even lets me take naps in her lap now
and then. Sometimes we go outside, and I have learned 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 were strange
noises and people everywhere, but mommy seemed brave and it helped me feel
secure.
Joan and Dave Chappell, our forever parents, were very happy to have me living in their home, but they were still sad knowing that there were so many other Kennewick dogs that still needed good homes. Although I was adjusting well and was very happy, Dave and Joan knew that dogs are naturally pack animals and need to be around other dogs to truly be fulfilled. They starting thinking and talking about possibilities, and decided that they needed to adopt another Eskie. The new pup would be a companion for me, but would also mean that there would be one less Kennewick dog waiting for a good forever home.
Joan started searching the Internet
and learned about several of the other Eskies living in the area that still
needed good homes. She knew that they had to think about personality, age,
size, and other considerations so that they could find me the perfect companion.
Then one day, Joan found a picture of a pup the same age as me who had been
rescued by the Oregon
Dog Rescue organization. He sounded just perfect, so Dave called and made
arrangements for us to travel to Portland Oregon to meet him. That was how
we first met Ramzi.
Ramzi was being housed by the really nice ladies at the Lexi Dog Boutique. When they first met, Ramzi wanted to be my friend immediately which made me a bit nervous, so I growled. After a bit, though, I relaxed and let Ramzi get to know me. Ramzi was shy towards Dave because he was a new face, but Dave could tell that there was a lot of love and affection behind that reserve. After taking us for a walk together, he decided to Ramzi was the one, and on July 14th, 2009, Ramzi officially became the second American Eskimo member of our family.
There are so many new things for both of us to learn in our forever home - everything from knowing where to potty to figuring out how to navigate stairs (which, we must say, was a CHALLENGE!). Our new family is very patient and is helping us along the way. If you would like to keep up with ourprogress, please see the "Latest News" page.
Rehabilitating a puppy mill dog like me isn't easy, and taking us in is not something anyone should do on a whim. If you have a very big heart and a lot of patience, however, please consider opening your home to one of our Kennewick puppy mill cousins, or any other poor pup that's had to endure what we did. You could start by contacting either the Seattle or Portland Humane Society, or Oregon Dog Rescue for more information.
Thanks again for your interest in our story! Please feel free to drop us a line through the contact page - We love to get mail from visitors, and if you are a rescued dog like we are and have a web site, let us know what it is so we can add you to our friends page!
Wags and Wiggles,
Ramzi and Kaya Chappell, American Eskimo Dogs
