Foster girl Kyra

   On Tuesday afternoon I somewhat unexpectedly received a foster dog, a Red female released from a puppy mill in Columbia, Missouri. She will be six years old on December 17, and I have made it my goal to find her a home by then. It is going to be a challenge, however, because she is quite afraid of people and seems to be completely unsocialized. She's a lot more comfortable with my pets then she is with me. In fact, I'm sure you will see fear when you look at her eyes in these photos. So sad.

   Her paperwork said her name was Kyra, but she doesn't know it anyway, and I plan to rename her in order to dissociate her from her former life. I'm considering Akira, for two reasons: it's close to her former name, but new. And it begins with "Aki," and my girl Aki is proving to be a huge asset in her socialization. (Only problem: Akira is a boy's name in the landmark manga/anime.) We'll see...

   She loves to run and hide in corners. Here she is jumping into Kismet's scratching box:

   She looks regal here, but her odor told the story of the filth in which she has been living…

   So she had a bath. And I must say, it is amazing the power with which a 30 pound dog can struggle against you. We both survived, and she earned the nickname SBM (small but mighty).

   Here is hoping that I have the knowledge and skills, as well as the patients, to turn her life around. It's ironic that she is missing her former life, and doesn't yet know how much better her life is about to get. Poor girl has been stuck in a cage pumping out puppies for profit for almost 6 years. But the cruelest thing is lack of human interaction. What a horrible life for a companion animal.