Our "Little Tag 19" was rescued from a mill around Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her last litter was born blind and therefore she was no use to the millers any more. Her time was up. Fortunately, she was not a candidate for the dog auctions. A rescue came to pick Little Tag 19 up along with 40+ other dogs; all dachshunds. These poor animals had no idea what was happening to them when they were pulled from their wire cages and moved to a van. They didn't know that anything had to be better than the life they had.

Little Tag 19 was moved to a rescue facility and placed in a pen that had room to move, walk, and grass to walk on. A first for most of these dogs. We called to see if the rescue needed help with the new arrivals as far as human socializing and human touch. Upon arriving, Jerry and I were shocked at the number of dogs, the condition of the poor babies, their fear of humans, their smell, and the sad state of their minds and bodies.

Mariah was in a pen trembling. These rescues had not been away from their mill surroundings for more than 36 hours. I went into her pen and noticed the brand on her head that had been done with a hot branding iron. I also noticed the notches in her little ears from the metal cow tags she had worn. She was terrified of my being in her space more so than the others. I quietly sat on the ground and tried to feed them little treats. None of these poor dachshunds knew what a treat was!

Eventually she moseyed up to me, took a treat, and ran for the corner. Other folks outside the pen said she was "ugly" because of her deformed ears and head. In MY mind, they weren't the right people for her. I thought she needed a rhinestone collar. (which you see in the picture below.)

Long story short, Tag 19 became Mariah Hope that day and went home with us. She started her new life with four other puppy mill rescued dachshunds. They taught her the ropes. Eventually she untucked her tail, learned to play with toys, run in the grass, eat a good meal every day, snuggle up to a human, and trust humans--all for the first time in her life. Sad that she had to wait so long for things many animals take for granted.

She became the most spoiled dog you ever saw. She deserved this from day one of her life, but it wasn't in the cards. I told her every day "I'm so sorry you had to go through so much pain and horror before we found each other."