Ellie

I adopted "Bessie" in July 2009, and changed her name to "Ellie" (aka Eleanor). I had another female pug in the house named Susie, and they bonded quickly. My experience was that having another dog helped Ellie get accustomed to my house. She followed Susie around and watched how Susie did things with me.

Ellie was very scared of most things at first; her NMDR foster mom said she had never seen a pug take so long to warm up to people. Now she will walk up to a stranger to be petted! She has come a long way.

The first time Ellie went to a park she froze like a statue; she had never seen such a big open space. Now the park is her favorite place, and she loves to walk and lie in the grass with me. She even loves to run short distances! Considering she has an old shoulder injury from being mistreated at the puppy mill, it was surprising to me how active she likes to be now that she has the chance.

After several months, Ellie started showing more of her personality, and started howling when she gets excited. It is the cutest thing. She throws her head back and howls when we are in the car going to the park, or when I get home from work, or even sometimes when we go to bed (she sleeps on my bed and loves it). She will even howl back at me if I start it. I guess she howls when she is happy!

Ellie has had no trouble with house-training at all. I was worried about that when I was considering adopting. Her foster mom taught her before I adopted her, and she is completely house-trained. She will walk on a leash and knows what it means to "go out".

Ellie has some quirks that will probably be with her for the rest of her life: she doesn't walk down stairs because she never learned at the mill (so I just carry her), and she seems to feel more comfortable near a "home base" in the house; she chooses to remain in the living room instead of roaming the house freely (there are no gates or crates in my house). She doesn't like to be picked up or held; she prefers to sit by you and paw at you for attention. Just like people, dogs are products of their experiences, and I've just adapted to what's best for Ellie without fuss.

Adopting a former mill dog has been one of my most rewarding experiences. It's been amazing to see the transformation in Ellie, as she's learned to trust and love people, and experience new and fun things (like sleeping on a couch or eating steak). When strangers stop to ask about Ellie, I get another chance to inform people about the horrors of puppy mills