Trixie's Rescue Story

       Have you ever read a blog written by a dog? How about two dogs? Well, there's a first time for everything, right? 
       My name is Trixie. I was found living in a forest in southern Illinois, along with my litter of puppies. (I was only nine months old but I already have puppies!) When I was found, I was brought to a very crowded municipal animal shelter. All of my puppies got adopted. But with all those cute little puppies to look at, nobody seemed to be looking for a slightly older puppy like me! And you know what happens in shelters like that, to dogs who don't get adopted quickly enough. Nothing very good.
      Then I got lucky. A pet rescue organization sprung me from the shelter! They always tried to rescue as many "end of the line" dogs as they could. Once I was rescued by the organization, my future looked much brighter. Even if I still couldn't find someone to adopt me right away, I'd have a foster home to live in, and I'd be safe.
      A few months earlier, another dog, named Chopper, had died. She was an older dog, and her family loved her fiercely. They were so sad when she passed away! The people who had owned her were a husband and wife, and their two children who were now adults. One of the kids lived far away, but the other was living at home while she finished college. The young woman who was in college loved dogs so much, and her life felt empty without one in the house... but her parents said, "Sorry! No more dogs!"
       But the young woman's mother worked with someone who volunteered at the organization that had rescued me. The co-worker convinced the mother to try fostering a dog, for a short while. And guess who the dog who they chose to foster was? ME! 
       At the municipal shelter, they had not done much with me other than feed me and give me water. So when my new foster family brought me home, I was in bad shape. I was really dirty and stinky from the months of living in the woods. My skin was rashy and itchy, and a lot of my fur had fallen out or gotten matted. I had such a bad infection in my ears, that the vet said I probably couldn't even hear.
      And also, I had worms!
      But I didn't care about any of that. I ran around the house, and got everyone to pet me. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I knew that I was being taken care of, and played with, and petted, and loved. And that felt so good!
      Here is what I looked like when they brought me home. (At least I'd already had a bath by then!) Ha-ha, I look so skinny in this picture, don't I?

      Can you guess what happened by the end of the first week? The family was supposed to bring me for an adoption show on Saturday, where I might find a permanent home. But by then, they were in love with me! And they didn't want anyone else to have me! So they adopted me themselves. In the rescue world, this is called being a foster failure. But it sure wasn't a failure to me. I was glad to be able to stay.
       Here's a picture of my Mama with me during that first week, when I was still a foster dog. It's not a very good picture. I had never been in a selfie before, so I was not sure what to do. 

       When I was first living with my new family, whenever we were taking a walk, I would get excited when I saw a mini-van go by. I would start barking and wagging my tail as I watched it. My family thought maybe I had been owned by people who drove a mini-van. They also noticed that I was already housetrained, knew a few tricks, and was great with kids. They couldn't understand how I had ended up homeless! But at least, I got a happy ending. 
       If you read The Best Dog In The World, you'll probably see a lot of similarities between my story, and the story of Pixie, the dog in the book. Even our names rhyme! The reason is that I was the inspiration for the story. But there is one big difference between my story and Pixie's story. Let me know if you figure out what it is! 
       I am also part of the reason why my Mama decided to donate half of the profits from The Best Dog In The World to pet rescue organizations. After her family adopted me, Mama started volunteering at the organization that had rescued me. She has volunteered there for several years now. She's met lots and lots and lots of homeless dogs. Many came from municipal shelters, like me. Some were found as strays. Some were handed over by their owners, who didn't want them anymore. Some were taken out of unsafe homes, like houses where the owners had 100 dogs! 
        Mama felt like she couldn't write a book about helping dogs, without sharing some of the proceeds with organizations that do a lot to help dogs like me. 
         I'm really proud to be one of the spokesdogs for Mama... who you know as Nicki Mann, the author of The Best Dog In The World. 
         The other spokesdog is my little sister Lily. But you can hear from her later. 
         Thanks for reading my rescue story! Remember...

 Don't shop, adopt!  

If you can't adopt, foster.

If you can't foster, volunteer. 

If you can't volunteer, donate. 

If you can't donate, educate, network, and crosspost...

Everyone can do something, large or small, to help save a life.