Pet Owner & CHS Position: Carol Amussen, Database and Electronic Donations Manager

Pet Name:  Simone     

Short bio/adoption story: My nephew adopted a Chihuahua from Gemini Rottweiler and Pitbull Rescue in Madison, MN, and posted a photo on Facebook. I went to the rescue website and started looking at dogs. I came across Simone’s profile and found out she had been there for SIX years, and they were offering a special adoption price for her! She had been brought to the rescue by the Sheriff’s Department along with her brother because the original owner kept letting the dogs out and there were multiple times that the pair had almost been hit by cars along a busy highway. Her brother was adopted out right away, but Simone was bypassed multiple times and had been returned at least once but no explanation was provided. I had filled out all the paperwork and was approved to adopt her, then my mom got sick, so the adoption was put on hold for a while. A few months later, my mom passed away and we were then again on track to finish up the adoption. A big hurdle was to make sure she was OK with our little terrier Sky, so we drove to Madison, MN, and did a meet and greet. The two dogs tolerated each other but didn’t really seem to LIKE each other. We gave it a couple of weeks and Jen from the rescue drove to our house to see how the dogs interacted in OUR yard. Long story short, they had a blast running around our yard and played together for about an hour while Jen checked out our yard and offered suggestions for making sure the fence was secure enough for a bigger, more powerful dog. They were the best of buddies until Sky’s passing a couple of years ago,   

Age:  14   

Breed: Pitbull mix   

Favorite food: Pretty much anything that is dropped and she is quicker than we are.   

Favorite nap spot: Everywhere, but she has a toddler bed upstairs and her own couch downstairs.   

Favorite toy: Stuffed toys but she obliterates them in seconds so she just gets chew toys now.

Favorite activity: Running around in the backyard, sniffing every square inch of the fence line.   

Naughtiest habit: Barking AND whining….a lot.   

Biggest pet peeve: Her biggest pet peeve is when she is being ignored.   

Funniest memory with your pet: She makes us laugh and smile EVERY day. She’s just a big goofball.   

What are some of your pet’s nicknames? White Dog, Hefty Chonk (my son’s creation). 

    

Pet Name: Lilli     

Short bio/adoption story: Lilli is our “special needs” dog. She had a rough start in life because her mother rejected her and terribly injured her at birth. She had surgery when she was a couple of days old and was bottle fed by a well-intentioned breeder. Lilli was then purchased by an elderly couple who only trained her to potty outside. She had full run of the house along with a couple of Yorkies. She was never taught to sit, stay, lay down, etc., so she had some terrible habits. Because she never had interaction with a momma dog to teach her, she doesn’t quite understand the cues that a dog normally gets from another dog, so she struggled socially. She was severely underweight and had terrible anxiety issues. Once she proved to be too much for the couple to handle, they took her to the vet at 18 months to have her put down. A vet tech talked the couple into surrendering the dog to the clinic instead of putting her down and that vet tech took her on as a project. She worked with Lilli to socialize her with other dogs, taught her the basic commands and then decided Lilli was more work than she had anticipated. She contacted my husband’s cousin who is a Doberman dad living in Las Vegas at that time and asked if he could help find a home for Lilli. I happened upon that post and found out the dog was in Mitchell. I have had two Dobies in the past and fell in love instantly. I called the lady who told me Lilli’s story and that made me even more eager to meet her. We loaded up our two dogs, drove to Mitchell to see how they all got along and they all played for hours. We came home with Lilli. She is so much better since we’ve gotten her, she is a beautiful, HUGE girl, 74 lbs. of solid muscle and we love her so much. She is still a work in progress EVERY day, but we would never give her up for anything.

Age: 4 1/2   

Breed: Doberman Pinscher.   

Favorite food: Her normal food and treats, her tummy doesn’t tolerate other foods.   

Favorite nap spot: Anywhere that a crack of sunshine happens to land on the floor.   

Favorite toy: Her blanket.

Favorite activity: Running around the living room in circles.   

Naughtiest habit: Snapping at and catching flies (and bees or wasps) and then spitting them out for us to dispose of.   

Biggest pet peeve: Her biggest pet peeve is when other dogs rush our fence from the outside.   

Funniest memory with your pet: When she does something wrong, she lays her head across her body sort of like a flamingo tucking its head under its wing and looks up at us with the whites of her eyes showing….as if to say, “who me?”   

What are some of your pet’s nicknames? Miss Lil, Black Dog, Dr. Phil (my son’s creation).   

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