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Written by: DJ Geribo

Category: Our Pack

It is true, you can never replace a pet with another pet since they are all so unique with their own personalities, even with the same breed of dog. After we lost Binka, I was so distraught and sad I told Jim I wanted another one. Yes, Meko is my #1 girl and so full of love and personality but I have had two who were my own for 8 years now and I really liked having two of them with me all the time.

As it turned out, Rena, one of the techs at CAVES where we brought Meko when she was diagnosed with IMHA (read about it in my soon-to-be-published book, "Miracle Dog") was on duty when we brought Binka in just about a month ago now. She mentioned that she still had the two Poms and was still looking for a home for them. I know she thought Jim and I were the perfect pet parents since it is obvious we love and take the best care of our pets. I wasn't thinking about adding another one to our pack, until we lost Binka. And I knew exactly where we would go first, to Rena.

Kitsune's Story                                                 

Rena had Kitsune (we renamed her from Zsa Zsa - all I could think about was the Gabors and I just had to change the name) and her brother Butters for about a year. Their original owner died and the husband was very upset about losing his wife, tried to commit suicide himself a couple of times, too. It sounds like there may have been something else going on with him, like Alzheimer's maybe, because he also had a couple of Huskies and took them out and shot them and was about to do the same to the Poms when they were rescued. It is a sad story.

Although I was concerned about separating the two Poms, Rena was happy that we were taking Kitsune (which, by the way, means "Fox Spirit" in Japanese - very appropriate, I think!). We have never had a male and wasn't sure what affect having a male with all females would have on our pack but mostly, Butters has a collapsing trachea that causes him to cough and then he needs medication. With the medical bills that have added up for us over the last 2 years from Meko having IMHA and now having Binka die while having surgery (yes, we still have to pay for that), we could not take on a pet with a known medical condition.

Kitsu (her nickname) is sweet, loving, fun, playful, and almost exactly the same size as Meko. Jim and I already love her and I think over time Meko and Jacks will love her, also. 

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Written by: DJ Geribo

Category: Our Pack

Less than 10 days after we launched Help Shelter Pets, we lost one of our Pomeranians (Binka) to a freak accident. I gave her a piece of chicken jerky (Waggin' Train) like I had so many times before. But this piece got lodged at the base of her esophagus and would not go into her stomach. The vet performed surgery on her to try to push the piece through to her stomach. Binka hemorraghed and died. We are so sad, this is a great loss to us and our other two dogs, Meko and Jacquay.

So we are appealing to all of you out there who have small dogs (Binka was 8 years old, weighed 7 pounds, and had a very small body.) Never assume that anything you give them, especially the tiny dogs, is OK, especially if it has any hard pieces (this was chicken jerky!) We have to understand that sometimes our dogs don't do the things we think they will just naturally do, like chew their food. I've noticed that their goal in eating anything is to get it into their stomach as soon as possible. We are constantly changing the things we give our dogs, and Wagon Train chicken jerky is now off our treat list. Tiny pieces, that's what small dogs should all be given, and nothing, ever, that may not fit through their esophagus without causing damage.

It has been our privilege to have spent almost 8 years with Binka, sharing our lives with her and having her be a part of our family. There are so many things she did that made her so special to us. And although we will always remember her and all the joy she gave us, our grief is deep and causes us great pain and distress.

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Written by: Jim Fontaine

Category: Our Pack

Here are my top 5 reasons why small dogs rule:

1. You can have three that weigh under 25 lbs. combined,
2. A 40 lb. bag of dog food lasts 6 months,
3. They can entertain you and each other,
4. Any 'accidents' are, generally speaking, small ones,
5. You always know when someone's at your door!