About Shiloh.

Shiloh is kind of one of my favorite beings ever.

I've been meaning to write this post forever.

Shiloh in 2007 a few days and vet visits after my parents found her

Back story: I grew up with a pack of dogs--if I am a crazy dog person it is only because of my parents. A couple years after our longtime family dog (Sandy) passed away I came home from my first day in high school to two tiny Keshond puppies (Lu and Little Bear). Fast forward a year later to my brother bringing home a dog (Banana) and we quickly went from no dogs to three and loved every second of it. A few years later my parents were driving home on a back road and saw some bloody animal limping around in the bushes.They pulled over and managed to get this mangled little thing into the car--turns out it was a dog who had recently had puppies and was badly beaten and starved. The vet guessed she was a bait and breeder dog in a dog-fighting ring. 

So my parents took her in "temporarily" until someone else adopted her. They had to be careful because her past had made her afraid of...well, everything. My dad couldn't take off his belt around her, we couldn't plug in the vacuum if she was in the room, the idea of going into the basement made her shake and cry. The vet guessed she had had a stroke or two from the abuse and we knew she was partially blind and deaf. 

At first we put up a gate between her and the three dogs already in the house because she was a "foster." My dad kept jokingly saying, "You name her, you claim her!" You could tell she badly wanted to snuggle our pups and was trying to be a "normal" dog. So one random day I announced that I had named her Shiloh and took down the gate. She has been the baby of the family ever since. In the last few years we lost all of our other dogs to old age and one to cancer and because of her past damage Shiloh isn't a replacement. She isn't the traditional family dog or anything. She sleeps a lot, and always has, and she doesn't care for people she doesn't remember (including my husband). She has accidents and can't be left in the yard alone because she wanders and can't find her way home again.

Shiloh has her problems and her quirks. Honestly? I wouldn't trade her for anything in the world. She may not be perfect, but she really is. When Shi decides she loves you, she loves you forever. She tries her hardest to be what you want her to be (when she is acting like a "dog" she hops around in a circle awkwardly). Even though humans have treated her horribly in the past, she is finally okay with someone taking a belt off near her or using a vacuum and--after YEARS of work--loves having a human she knows scratch her ears and her belly. Oh, yeah, and she loves cookies. All the time. If I go outside to get the mail, she waits for her cookie. "Well, SOMEONE went out, that means we get a treat, I think, right? Just get one anyway."

When people ask why I am so passionate about rescuing dogs instead of "buying" them, this is the face I think of.