4 yr old long haired caramel colored female chihuahua

Mina's story is a long sad one. She was born into a bad situation of a chihuahua breeder who'd lost control of her operation due to age and health problems. In an incident that made national headlines, over 200 chihuahuas were seized from the breeder after complaints from the neighbors about the unsanitary conditions.

"Animal- control officers found feces throughout her home, and some of the dogs were living in the overcrowded house's walls, authorities said. They added that most of the dogs had formed vicious, feral packs." (Burbank Leader 2004)

Mina was one of these dogs. The county planned to euthanized most of the surviving dogs because they felt that only a small percentage of them were adoptable. But our sister organization, Chihuahua Rescue, led a fight in the media and the courthouse and sued to keep the county from killing any of the dogs. We won. And so all of the dogs left to go to various rescue groups and individuals who volunteered to help these angels out.

Mina went to a group in Ventura who fostered her out to one of their volunteers. She ended up keeping Mina herself and life was good for a while. But then her new owner lost her job and had to move in with her brother. Not so bad except that there was already a dog in that house, a big boxer. Who did not like Mina. He attacked her several times.

Two days after Christmas 2007, the boxer went for the kill. The woman was able to save her from being killed but not before Mina suffered devastating wounds to her neck and belly. She took Mina, who was bleeding profusely, to the local shelter and surrendered her. It took the shelter's vet 3 hours to stitch her up. She had two drains put in her neck and hundreds of metal stitches in her neck & belly. It was not a pretty sight, but if you want to see the extent of her wounds, click to see pictures taken 3 days later.

How did she make it back to us? They scanned her and found her microchip which hadn't been changed and so we got a phone call. We could have her back if we paid the vet bills. How were we going to say no? This is just one of the ways in which your donations are used. A volunteer picked her up and took her home to recuperate.

We hadn't known Mina personally so don't know what she was like before. The dog that was picked up from the shelter was an extremely traumatized creature that laid in the corner, a statue that did not move or react to anything except to watch with big frightened eyes anyone who came near.

The only thing that got a positive reaction out of her was the refrigerator door opening for the cheese that was used for giving her the antibiotics to ward off infection. She loves cheese so much that she forgot to be afraid when the cheese came out.

Several followup visits with the vet later showed that her body was healing well. The drains were taken out, and then the stitches a week later. The wounds closed up and scabbed over and the scabs then fell off. After a month, her fur had grown back enough that you could just barely see the healing scars. Three months later, you had to hunt to find them. You can only find the largest one by touch.

While her body was quick to heal, her mind and spirit has been on a much slower path to recovery. After about 6 weeks, you could approach her and pet her though she wouldn't lose the "frightened possum" look until after you had started to pet her and she saw that you were not going to hurt her.

Her foster home had three other small dogs her size. Despite what happened to her with the boxer, she is unafraid of them. She seems to pick up from them that they are in a safe place but otherwise doesn't really interact with them. We've not yet tested her with a larger dog to see if she's afraid of them.

Now she dances with excitement when anyone goes into the kitchen in hopes that some kind of treat will be forthcoming. Her ears perk up with interest when anyone comes in or there's anything going on. It's really very cute because her ears bend at the tips and face forward. With her longhair tufts, she looks like a fuzzy faced fox when she's watching something of interest.

She does know what a leash is for and will sit for you to put it on. Once it's on, she stands up and is eager to go out the door. Mina also has shown herself to be very fastidious about her potty habits. If she's confined to a small space (ie a bathroom) during the day, she will use a pee pad for #1 and hold #2 til you get home, provided you take her out immediately upon letting her out.

It's hard to determine how she likes to play because she's still very skittish but she'll play bow and rush forward to bounce off your legs. It's a good thing she's small because that seems to be the only game she knows how to play, "crash"ing into your legs with her paws up.

Mina can be adopted now. She needs a special person who is willing to be patient with her as she is still timid at times especially around strangers.

Throughout it all, she was never aggressive. Only in the first days did she warning snap to keep from being touched where it hurt. When she gets scared, her response is to run and hide. If she is kept from doing this she goes stiff with fear but waits to see what happens next. She doesn't like to be held in the air if you're holding her securely. She will try to leap out of your arms.

Everyone who sees Mina comments on what a sweet playful dog she is and how much of a change has already taken place in her. Are you the person who can take Mina the rest of the way?

She will be ok in a home with other small dogs as long as they are not aggressive.

If you are touched by Mina's story, please consider making a donation today. Without your donations, we couldn't have paid to spring her out of the shelter or her subsequent vet bills. And it's not just Mina we care for, we have many other dogs that are considered permenant sanctuary dogs simply because no one wants dogs that are old or have chronic health problems or aren't very socialable. Your financial support enables to us to keep helping these dogs. We hope that Mina won't become another one of these.