On Christmas Eve, we received a phone call from a Humane Society over 100 miles away from us.  They had an older Chihuahua that was found outside chained to a tree and they had no room.  My husband drove the distance during holiday traffic and picked her up.  

She was a fawn smoothcoat.  She should have weighed 9 pounds but only weighed 4.  We took her to my vet who examined her and said she was only around seven or eight years old and had kidney failure.  He could not determine if it was the beginning or had been going on for some time.  I left with bags of fluid and needles to hydrate her at home twice a day.  

We did this for a couple of months and she started gaining weight.  By this time we knew she was also losing her sight, but she knew my voice and responded by wagging her whole body.  

In February, I knew I couldn't leave her at home with someone just coming to take care of the rest of the crew while we were in New York.  So John took her to his house.  She loved it there also and continued to enjoy life again.  We both knew she would never be adopted so John was going to keep her.  

This morning she barked her normal 3am wake up call and quietly passed away.  This news has struck me hard, knowing she was ill does not make it any easier.  

There are many things going through my mind of what I would like to do to the people who chained her to a tree to die.  I wish in the rescue business that we didn't just get the rejects that no one can handle or care for.

She shouldn't have suffered the life she did and I can only have peace knowing that her last months were happy for her.

Hazel Bellerjeau