Millie
will be eight months old on 12/6/09 and is a
purebred, AKC-registered Chihuahua purchased at a
local pet shop this past summer. Her official
registered name is "Millie Vanillie of Kansas" and
she is (like all petshop puppies) a puppymill puppy,
born in Kansas on April 6, 2009. We will
be the first ones to tell you that despite AKC
registering this dog (neither parent are AKC
registered), she is nowhere near the AKC standard or
what you would think of a Chihuahua form. Had
we seen her in a shelter, we would have guessed she
was a Chi-Weenie (Chihuahua crossed with a Doxie).
In fact, we have pulled much better looking
Chihuahuas out of our local shelters and off kill
lists! And they didn't cost over $1,000!
Millie has gone through some intense
rehabilitation since she has been with us. She
is a typical puppymill puppy with all that that
entails... lack of necessary socialization at an
early age, little human contact when it was needed
most, etc. For a full list of puppymill puppy
traits, please see
PuppyMillFighters. Initially VERY
spooky and aggressive towards other dogs, Millie has
learned what it means to have canine manners and
interact with humans. She has developed into a
sweet dog, but still somewhat shy with strangers.
Because of her background and origins, no small
children, please! This breed is not a good one
with kids by nature and we are looking to place
Millie in a home with someone who has experience
with this breed and/or puppymill puppies.
Millie is just now recognizing some
of the basic obedience commands but is not yet
consistent in responding to them. She is not
doggie door not house-broken, despite our best
efforts. This will be a long process for
puppymill puppies don't learn bathroom habits from
their mothers, usually themselves puppymill puppies
as well and raised in a small confined space all of
their lives, so her furever home needs someone with
a lot of patience and time to devote to her complete
rehabilitation.
We did an expose on Millie and her
journey to being registered as a purebred - for more
complete details see
Millie's Story.
