Tootie Raney
Age: Adult
Sex: Female
Breed: Chihuahua
Weight:
Current Location:
Adoption Date: July 16, 2020
Adopted by: The Knierim family
Latest Update:
This one was a tough one, Tootie was basically a feral dog when we rescued her. Showing her teeth and snapping, Millie tackled the task at hand but it wasn’t an easy one.
Yesterday Millie sent her off to her new forever life. Millie was very emotional about Tootie and needed to take a day before writing her adoption to us.
Tootie has left for her forever home with the Knierim family. After losing her older dog about 5 months ago Dena has been looking for a small female dog to fill the hole and be a companion to her little beagle mix, Nala. She started following Tootie’s story from the beginning and felt she would fit right in. Dena works from home and has the patience and experience that Tootie needs to adjust to her new home. In addition to Dena and Nala, Tootie will have her dad and human brother to give her lots of love and attention. Tootie’s new name will be Mia, after all Dena said, she is a princess.. Happy life little one, you and I have come a long way.. you’ll be missed. See you on the Happy Tails page.
I wanted to add Millie’s feelings about this adoption because I think its very important for all of you to understand how much heart and should goes into fostering and then letting them go:
I posted the adoption of Tootie.. this one was really hard.. why? Maybe because I wasn’t sure I could reach her and I did.. maybe because we went from her growling and trying to bite me to trusting me with her whole life. She went into Dena arms looking at me as if to ask “is this what I’m supposed to do?” and I had to say “yes what a good girl you are!” Without a doubt fostering is very rewarding. I’m often asked how do you do it… my answer is always to focus on the next one you can save or help ……it’s just some just touch us much more than others. Love you Miss Tootie! What a great life you’ll have!
Millie did a fantastic job of turning her life around, Laura did fantastic job of finding the perfect home for her and the village did a fantastic job sharing my posts about her in order to find that application.
Great job everyone, and happy life to you all..
We were asked to help yesterday with 2 hours left to spare or this little Chihuahua would be euthanized. Apparently she has an owner who had many dogs that have died from parvo, a few rescues have helped with some of them and this girl was in a vet hospital in Fort Worth being treated for parvo but she couldnt pay the bill. We called and paid the bill and Ricky went to pick her up this morning. We were told she was aggressive, Ricky put her in ISO at the sanctuary in a crate until I could get down there a few hours later and see who she was. I opened the door and she was in the crate that had the door open, she had shoved herself all the way to the back. She had a cone on and she just growled and showed her teeth at me. She would not come out this was clear and you never reach in for a dog like this. I lifted up the crate and tipped her out, she recoiled back against a corner showing her teeth at me. I got a leash and attenpted to put it over her head, she snapped and snarled, I persisted. Once I had the leash on I pulled her head away from me and tucked her in close. Her whole body was rigid absolutely terrified, I untied the cone and pulled it off of her head and she just leaned her head into my chest with relief. That was it, that was the aggression which was nothing but fear. I took her outisde and sat with her a bit and she cannot stop shaking, I pulled her to me to sit in my lap and once she was there by golly she wasnt getting off 😂
I needed to get her some water and a nice bed and everytime I tried to get up she would hurl herself back into my lap. Poor baby is just terrified and frightened from being in a very loud busy vet hospital.
We are keeping her isolated for the night at the sanctuary, I’m going to wash her up cut her toenails and Millie will come pick her up tomorrow and take her home and keep her in isolation until we get to the bottom of her actual diagnosis, we aren’t even positive she had parvo and her vet records she came with are blurry and we can’t even read them. We will have Dr. Reno figure it all out and get a good understanding of what she needs.
Her name will be Tootie Raney named after an RN in Gun Barrel City Texas.
Welcome to Dog Ranch Rescue Tootie
UPDATE 5/27/2020
Little fearful dogs like Tootie take a lot of work and experience to help them flourish. She was in a vet hospital in Fort Worth and she did test positive for Parvo, we have seen no signs of illness with her but she still has to be handled in isolation for the next few weeks. Her previous owner could not pay the bill and asked us to help her. Millie has been working with her for a few days now and is sending us this update.
I will say that even once Millie gains her trust Tootie will need a very specific, very experienced home when she is finally ready for adoption. Snapping in Chihuahua’s is not unusual and dealing with it needs to be understood thoroughly by any home she might go into.
“Just wanted to post an update on Miss Tootie for her first week. This is a hard update to write because it breaks my heart to see such fear in a dog. She desperately wants to be held and loved on but her fear takes over or at least it did for the first five days.. every time I entered the room or got close she would growl. The leash scared her to death and she would try to strike out when I got close with it. I had to turn the crate over to get her out so I could really start working with her. That said we have started to turn a corner..After a week I can now slip the leash over her head slowly and give her rubs. She allows me to pick her up and she snuggles in. She perks up when I come into the room instead of growling and retreating. She still growls when my dogs come down the hall past her room but once I come in and say good morning she’s fine the rest of the day with me coming in and out or anyone going past her room. Do I trust her totally … no. Does she trust me totally … no but we’re getting there. Tootie is in isolation for possible Parvo so I’m being extremely careful in all my interactions with her. She’s a very good girl and does her business on the disposable pee pads which helps me a lot. She is eating good and sleeps quietly through the night in her enclosure. Tonight I walked in with her dinner and she made the cutest little sound …just made me happy.”
UPDATE 5/29/2020
Little Tootie is making progress, no more growling at Millie instead she’s got a little happy dance to welcome her. As I stated before, these dogs that are afraid will growl and snap and need lots of time and trust and patience and Millie is giving her all of that. 😊
UPDATE 6/18/2020
Millie continues to make huge strides with Tootie and has provided us this update:
“One month update on Miss Tootie… she has made so much progress! I’m very proud of her. She went to the vet last week and had a really good checkup and is no longer contagious. Her small enclosure has been removed and disinfected and now she has a much larger area for naps and bedtime with multiple bed options. She just hops and jumps with excitement when I come to get her and makes the cutest little sounds (hard to describe but it’s not a bark) She is still afraid of various sounds, quick movements and odd things but she loves being out with the gang and gets along with everyone. She has started playing with toys and has made a lot of progress doing her business outside. She has even started letting Buzz pet her and he’ll be picking her up and snuggling soon. She comes to me when I call her and has even taken a few walks with me around the neighborhood (no more problems putting the leash on) .. she’s a great little walker! It’s hard to get a good picture of her not only because she’s all black but also because she likes to be right at my feet. Her very favorite thing is to be picked up and snuggled. Tootie is just a doll at about 12 1/2 lbs with a little stocky build that she’s very hard to resist. Next up is to continue on potty training, possibly crate training for night and more socializing with other people. We still have a ways to go but Miss Tootie is making leaps and bounds in the right direction. For someone who wanted to take my finger off the first day what a turn around .. love this little girl.”
UPDATE 7/12/2020
Millie has written us a nice bio on Tootie to help us find her family:
Tootie just wanted to say hi and tell everyone she’s still here.. she has come a really long way from the day she came to us. She is part of the gang at our house and spends her days playing with everyone, barking at unknown noises or squirrels and is just one happy camper. (She might have an occasional moment of jealousy but we are working on that and after all she is a Chihuahua). This girl has become a real lover.. she loves to be held, snuggled and kissed. She likes a treat before bedtime, goes right to sleep and wakes up ready to play. She loves to walk and will make a great walking companion and would probably keep up with most dogs. Tootie is absolutely beautiful with a thick shiny coat and gorgeous eyes. This girl really deserves a home of her own.
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