A few years ago, an acquaintance of ours rescued a young Miniature Pinscher named Isabelle.
James was not a young man, so he was unable to keep her.
A Min Pin is a very active dog.
Isabelle's energy level, coupled with her experiences before she was taken to a loving home made it impossible for her to receive the care she needed, so even though James loved her very much, we all decided to move her in with our family.
Taking in an abandoned, dumped, or stray animal is not new to us.
In fact, in the twenty four years my husband and I have been together, we have taken in more than twenty animals.
The only pet we ever paid for, besides fish, was a parakeet we bought to be a companion to a parakeet my father-in-law rescued out of a cat's mouth, so one more mouth to feed did not seem like too big a deal.
We knew she had problems, and were willing to take them on, hoping we could provide what she needed, even though we were not familiar with this particular dog breed.
Caring for a rescued animal is not like raising a puppy from scratch.
A pet that has been rescued usually has behavioral, health, and/or emotional problems, so the first thing we did was try to educate ourselves a bit about our new companion.
We knew from James that we were probably her fourth family, and that she had minimal training, some of which she had forgotten.
She was afraid of feet, and cowered when anyone made aggressive moves toward her, so we assumed she had been abused.
The vet said he thought her to be about four or five years old, and in overall good health.
Her coat was uniform, her weight was good, and she did not appear to be sick or injured in any way.
This was all good news, because teaching her to live in our home would be challenge enough.
Min Pins are fantastic creatures.
They are playful, loving, energetic, and intelligent.
They are small, easy to groom, and wonderfully loyal.
Isabelle was all of these things, but she was also neurotic, aggressive with strangers, and had lost most knowledge of where it is appropriate to potty.
Fortunately she was crate trained, which helped us many times when guests would visit, but this was little consolation, since she howled continuously until we let her out of her kennel.
This was not turning out to be as easy as we had hoped, so what to do next was a puzzle.
The Internet and television provide wonderful sources of information, not only about specific breeds, but also about training.
One of my favorite experts is Cesar Millan, also known as the Dog Whisperer.
In fact, I came across one of the most valuable bits of information I ever learned about training Isabelle from his show.
In about five minutes I learned how to teach her to stop trying to eat every passing stranger, and I never had to raise my voice or hurt her in the process.
The Miniature Pinscher Club of America, Inc.
has a wonderful web site, as well, and there are many others.
I learned more in a year with Isabelle than I had in a decade with Labrador Retrievers, because her need and our desire were so great.
Isabelle joined our family four years ago, and is now a pretty good dog.
She still has trouble remembering not to bark too much, destroy whatever is passed through the mail slot, and potty only on her mats and outside, but she has become a much calmer version of herself, and is able to allow people into our home when we tell her to.
She seems happy, and we love her very much, so we are all very glad we decided to take on the challenge of this hurt little dog.
Patience, love and consistency have saved her life, and enhanced ours profoundly.