Mr Wilson

When i picked him up in MPLS his name was Mac. By the time we drove to Duluth he changed his name to Mr. Wilson. Mr Wilson joined our household of myself, two teens and two cats, and a neighborhood of other dogs and kids who all play together.

It took me a while but I figured out that I had to treat Mr Wilson as if he had a stroke. He had to learn everything, like walking up strairs, the concept of water, pooping and peeing outside and having as much water and food as he needed. I can not imagine his first 2 1/2 years in a puppy mill. The separation anxiety that he had daily.

With help from the vet and the MSDR trainers, and Prozac, Mr Wilson is no longer suffering from the terrible bouts of anxiety.

Its almost a year since he has been in our home. I wanted a walking partner, a dog who liked to hike rain, shine or snow. On on of our hikes this fall he made a point of walking in every mud bog there was. HE LIKEs TO GET DIRTY. He also loves the snow, he and I are well suited, we both prefer to be outdside.

Precious Dexter

For those of you who haven't yet met him, this is Dexter.

Dexter was brought into my life when Brad & I decided we wanted another dog to add to our family. We wanted to be sure it was a dog that would be a good fit for us, and for Layla - our 6 year-old beagle. We knew we wanted to adopt, so we could give a dog that didn't have a home, one filled with love.

So I started searching...

And in doing so, I came upon a website for Small Dog Rescue of Minnesota. One that rescues dogs that are 20 pounds and under from all over the country and rehabilitates them and finds homes for them. We live in an apartment and cannot have dogs more than 60 pounds, so I thought this would for sure be a great start. I originally found another beagle that I thought was really cute, and applied to adopt her. I received a response from a volunteer within a day saying she thought Millie (the beagle) would not be a good fit for us because she has separation anxiety and would not do well in a crate. And then she suggested 3 other dogs that would probably be a great fit for us. One of which was Precious.

Brad & I looked at his picture, read his bio, and talked it over. He seemed great for our family! So we set a time for a home visit. The foster parent brings the dog to you, so they can be in your environment and see if it's a fit. I thought that was pretty cool.

A wonderful lady named Laura - Precious' foster mom - brought him over. I remember being so excited, and a little nervous at how Layla would react. She brought Precious in and Layla was not too thrilled, to say the least. Layla is very stand-offish to other dogs, but warms up to them with time.

We loved Precious right away and were sure we wanted to keep him. So he got to stay with us.

He started out really jumpy and nervous. He was sad that his foster momma left, and missed her. But he was still full of affection for both of us. He gave us kisses and snuggled as often as possible. He adjusted to his new home, his forever home, pretty quickly.

We changed Precious' name to Dexter, because we thought he should have something a little more masculine. He took on the new identity well. :)

And now I get to wake up to, go home to, and snuggle with 2 adorable dogs. Dogs that have now become buddies. Layla wants to chase him all of the time. She also started kissing him a lot recently. He's not so sure about that but let's her get a few in from time to time.

They sleep next to each other and follow each other around. They truly are family.

Dexter gets so excited for so many small things, it's so cute. He jumps really high when he is excited! He always is the first to greet me at the door, follow me to bed, and give me kisses in the morning. He has a heart full of love for humans and I can't believe we got so lucky to get him. He is my little man and has a place in my heart forever. He is my precious Dexter. ¢¾

For more about Small Dog Rescue of Minnesota, visit their website at :http://smalldogsminnesota.org/index.cfm
I encourage you all to take a look. There are many dogs that needs homes. Who knows - you may be the next person to write about your new addition!

Koby {Suzy}

It was February and Valentines Day was coming really soon. It was the perfect opportunity for my new husband to get me what I always wanted! A DOG! So I began dropping, what I thought were subtle hints! I began with little comments as we watched T.V. and of course whenever we saw a dog. Then the comments turned into emailing links to him of dogs that needed a home. Let's just say my subtle hints were not working very well! But then it happened. I came across Suzy online at Small Dog Rescue of MN. She was just a little puppy, so sweet, so darling, and in my eyes SO PERFECT! After talking about it we decided to go through the application process with hope that we would be able to adopt her. We met her and fell in love...it truly was love at first sight!

Her name is now Koby and loves being apart of our family! She loves running around the yard, playing with her friends, digging holes, going on walks by the river, and snuggling with us! Koby will be turning 1 year old in December. She has truly changed our lives and we could not love her anymore than we already do!

Koby would like to thank her foster family for taking such great care for her! We would also like to thank everyone from Small Dog Rescue for doing what you do! Thank you for saving Koby and thank you for saving all the other dogs like Koby!

Ruby and Cody at TTouch

Cody the dappled dachsund is my current foster. I adopted Ruby (formerly Ali) from SDR the summer of 2009. Fostering dogs has helped Ruby venture farther and faster and higher than she's ever gone before. Here we are at the Pet Junction TTouch event with Amy DeLong.