Mill Dog Rescue Network

Marilyn’s story started for us when John bought home a copy of the local Tid Bits newspaper. Tucked away on the inside pages was an advertisement from Saint Animal Rescue. The ad described Marilyn, a puppy mill rescue dog, and a sweet little poodle that touched our hearts. John called the phone number and spoke to Saint Animal Rescue who gave us Helen’s number who gave us Teresa’s number at Mill Dog Rescue. We were very surprised to find that Marilyn was still available and so we arranged to visit her at Theresa and Richard’s home in the Black Forest. Richard caught her in her pen and John held her while we went to complete the paperwork to officially adopt Marilyn. Marilyn seemed to take to us right away; she was very comfortable on Jo-Anne’s lap all the way to our home in Elbert. She was greeted by our other four dogs who welcomed her into their home.

We were told that Marilyn should not run off as mill dogs are not used to any freedom, We decided keep her on a leash initially during exercise, she disliked the leash intensely, we thought that after four days she would know were “home” was, were we wrong. We had been letting her out while we watched her but on the fourth day of living with us she took it into her head to go exploring. Jo-Anne could not find her anywhere on our farm. We were distraught that this poor little soul had left our lives so soon. Jo-Anne called neighbors, friends and the local dog pound in Elizabeth, Hall Crest Kennels. We posted pictures of Marilyn all over town. One of our neighbors drove all over the area looking for her. The weather had turned very cold - getting close to zero at night - The area we live in is well populated with coyotes and mountain lions so we descended into a very sad time as we were quite sure that Marilyn had left us. Four days after Marilyn left home we received a voice mail from Hall Crest saying that they thought they had Marilyn. John called them and described her fang like teeth, this detail not been previously told to them. The lady at Hall Crest confirmed that the little dog she had did indeed have fangs. We left immediately and could not believe that it was indeed Marilyn sitting in a cage waiting to go home again! This remarkable little girl was not ready to leave this life. Marilyn had been found by a neighbor three miles from where we live; she had crossed a local ranch in some of the coldest weather of the season and had managed to evade the wild life predators of the area. Our neighbor told us that she was scratching at his deck door to be let in in spite of his own dogs barking at her! He called the local dog officer who took her to Hall Crest. We decided that Marilyn was meant to be - where she spent those days and nights we will never know - she did not appear to have lost weight or be bedraggled - a real survivor! She is still nervous of us - she seems more comfortable around younger children, she will come up to us now and sniff our hands - she loves her food and is all tail wags at dinner time. Also in the mornings when we come down stairs she is wagging her tail, it is super to see, and she does appear to be happy, she “ruddles” rubbing her body on the various dog beds around - she also tries to get one of our other dogs, also a small poodle, to play with her - sorry to say he isn’t interested which is a shame for her.

Marilyn stays close to home these days, she circulates around our house when she is let out for her ablutions either alone or with our other dogs, then she waits at our back door to be let back in. She is still quite a nervous dog but she gets more trusting every day. We have to corner her to pick her up to spend time with her on our laps. She has fitted into our family very well; we expect that she will one day jump onto our laps as our other small dogs do.

It has been such a delightful experience having her and seeing her come around.

We still want to take her to the vets to get her teeth fixed - but feel we have to wait until she is more comfortable around adults. I would hate to put her in a cage again.

So yes Marilyn has stolen our hearts, you do have to have patience though!
Some musings - We have been around animals, cats, dogs, horses, cows, pigs and sheep, all our lives and have never seen such a traumatized one as Marilyn - those puppy mill people should be hung drawn and quartered!