The Demons Among Us

This little face belongs to Iliana. Forgive her messy hair, we’d just come in from the snowy back yard  when I snuck up on her and snapped her picture. She’s afraid of cameras, small children, fast movement…and a host of other things she’s never seen before. Sweet little Iliana was born in a puppy mill and then used as a breeder for at least five years. We aren’t sure if she escaped or was dumped in the parking lot where Pap found her on a rainy day earlier this fall, but what we have discovered is that she was probably kept in a cage for her entire life.

Of all the heinous creatures that share this planet with us puppy mill owners and pedophiles are absolutely the worst. This little girl was riddled with every kind of bug and worm, wasted down to skin and bones, and then had her hair hacked off with what appear to have been gardening shears. For that alone her previous owner should be flogged. We haven’t had her trimmed properly yet because she’s still so thin and scared of everything. How you could do this to any dog is beyond my understanding, but to enslave this dog is nothing less than demonic.

When Pap brought her home and handed her to me wrapped in a towel, she curled up into my neck and went to sleep. She didn’t weigh as much as a tea cup, every little bone clearly defined under her fur. It took us two days of constant feeding for her to stop worrying that the bowl would ever be empty and eating until she threw up. She wasn’t house trained, leash trained or familiar with toys. She wouldn’t stop pacing through the house until we borrowed a dog crate and put it in our bedroom with the door open. It broke my heart when she went right in and layed down with her face on her paws.

We are several months and many visits to the vet past those dark days and Iliana has gained some weight, taken possession of half the toy basket (Walker was delighted to share with her) and now sleeps on our bed. She loves to run around outside and is doing much better at remembering THAT is where we poop (instead of under my dining room table.) Her progress isn’t really the subject of this post though.

Every time I find something else that scares her, or points out that she spent one third of her life in torture, I wish that there was some magical cosmic fairness fairy that would do to these puppy mill owners exactly what they’ve done to these dogs either by design or neglect.