To Paris, With Love: Rags-to-riches story as Paris Hilton adopts shelter dog, encourages others to do same

Paris and Sid at shelter

By Cathy Scott, Best Friends staff writer

A tiny Chihuahua named Sid has gone from living in an animal shelter in Las Vegas to life in Mulholland Estates in Los Angeles with Paris Hilton. It marks the first time the celebrity has adopted a dog instead of purchasing one from a pet store.

Hilton chose the Lied Animal Foundation, a municipal shelter in Las Vegas, for her community service, per the terms of a plea agreement for a misdemeanor offense committed in Las Vegas. This week, while Hilton spent the day helping at the shelter, she met the 3-year-old former stray and made an instant connection. She arranged to adopt him and, the next day, after Sid had been neutered, which the shelter requires, she returned to take him back to Los Angeles. Sid now lives with Hilton’s two other dogs, a Yorkshire terrier and a Chihuahua.

Hilton commented on Twitter about her work at the shelter, saying, “Volunteered all day at Animal Foundation. Made me cry to see animals needing homes. Adopted a dog today. So sweet.”

According to the Animal Foundation's website, its adoption fee is $155 and includes vaccinations, neutering and a microchip ID. It’s quite a switch from just three years earlier when Paris bragged to an entertainment reporter about buying a tiny dog at a boutique pet store, which was one of the shops Best Friends volunteers rallied at to inform consumers that the puppies in that store came from puppy mills and substandard conditions. The store has since closed its doors.

For Kelli Harmon, campaign specialist for Best Friends Puppies Aren't Products, Hilton’s adoption is hopeful news. “Paris' love for animals has influenced many young people who see her with a tiny Chihuahua and then go buy one for themselves,” Harmon says. “As a fellow Chihuahua adopter, I wish her the best and hope she and her new little one will influence people the same way she has in the past, but that now people will head to the shelter instead of a pet store to find an adorable new pet.”

By the looks of it, Hilton does intend to set an example for others. After she left the shelter, she encouraged her followers on Twitter to adopt rather than buy a pet, writing, “This Christmas, if you’re thinking of getting a dog or cat, get one at your local animal shelter. Save a Life. Don't Shop. Adopt,” and, in a third tweet, “Remember, a dog is for life, not just for Christmas.”

Reprinted courtesy of Best Friends

Puppy Mill Dog Comes Home

I've alluded to having another dog with me, so here is her story.

Timing is everything. Eight days after my Mia died, I was feeling down about losing her when I got a call from an independent rescuer. She periodically goes into Riverside County, San Bernardino and Hesperia -- an area called Inland Southern California -- to rescue dogs, mostly breeders, from puppy mills. These mills are rustic and have mostly on-the-ground confines where litter upon litter are bred in the back of rural properties.

The gal told me she and a friend were told about a man who was being evicted from his Riverside property. He was unloading some female breeders. But he also had a puppy Chihuahua who was "too big" (the breeder's words). He was going to keep her and breed her with a smaller male, but because he was being forced to relocate, he was unloading her too. The rescuer said they had foster homes for the mother dogs but not for the puppy and did I know anyone who could take her. I didn't hesitate and said I would.

I didn't know how old she was, what kind of Chihuahua, medical issues, nothing. The next day, they brought her to me. She was like a miniature Mia, although I am trying not to compare them. She was shy but not really scared and she weighed only a pound. The breeder, the rescuer said, raises dogs to weigh as adults between 2-1/2 and 3-1/2 pounds. That's precisely why dogs like Mia are born with medical issues, because of overbreeding and trying to get them tiny.

I named her Sissy and she has been with me, here to stay, since June 13. She had a bit of an upper respiratory infection when she arrived so I eased her into a raw food diet and also put her on probiotics and colostrum (she loves the colostrum and laps it up, watered down, twice a day).

I was told Sissy was 9 weeks old, but her motor skills weren't developed and she acted more like a 6-week-old puppy, possibly because of being confined with basically no contact with people and outside stimulation and socialization (she has long since made up for lost time).

Today, now 5 months old, Sissy is a little tiger with one goal in life: to play, play, play. Within a week of arriving here, she was playing with toys. She was so tiny, they were as big as her. She was weighed two weeks ago at 4 pounds but she feels even heavier now and is probably at 4-1/2.

Before Sissy arrived, I had adopted out Joey, a shih-tzu foster boy. For a week, I was back down to just my two dogs, Rosy and Hollywood, each 9-1/2 years old. Then, Sissy arrived 

unexpectedly. And a week later, I got a call that Joey was being returned for "acting out." He's 8 years old, adores me, and I adore him, and so I'm keeping him two. Which brings me back up to

 four. But that's okay. Now, instead of three big

 dogs and one little one, I have two big and two small -- very manageable.

                                                         

(Pictured, right, Joey and Mia a few weeks before Mia passed.)

Sissy already knows how to sit and stay. And, because she would lick Hollywood and Rosy's faces until the end of time, she knows the command "leave it." For some reason, she can't get used to having big dogs around and thinks they're the coolest thing. Every time they walk into a room, it's like she's never seen them before. And each evening and morning when Hollywood is napping, she sneaks up, crawling on her belly, to lick his snout. When he wakes up, she wriggles like it's Christmas morning and he's her present. She adores them both and they're extremely tolerant of her. Rosy has actually started playing some with Sissy. She's maturing and is becoming less of a jumping bean  (although she is still very much a crazy-bouncy puppy).

Sissy attended Mia's placement at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, where she was doted on by Best Friends employees (Sissy's pictured here with animal consultant Sherry Woodard).

In late mid July, Sissy and Joey went to San Diego with me (Rosy and Woody were boarded at their favorite place) and we stayed at my sister Cordelia's for a couple of nights. Sissy raced around the house  like she'd always lived there. Their dog Frankie ignored her, but she started chasing their Burmese rescued cat. I was really proud of her when she did her business outside (except for one small accident).

But, we're still working on the house training. While paper-training is great, you then have to move from paper to outdoors. But Sissy is getting there, slowly but surely.

She and Joey play and wrestle constantly throughout the day, and I'm so glad they have each other (and Rosy and Woody are too, because when she was a little younger and chewed nonstop; after Joey was returned, she started chewing on his legs, and he was fine with it).

I still miss Mia more than I can say, and I think about her every day. But having Sissy, Joey, Rosy and Hollywood with me has been a delight. Sissy is growing up, right before my eyes, and she couldn't be a happier dog.

I'll continue posting here about the natural care I provide for my dogs. Rosy has melanoma -- diagnosed a year and a half ago -- but she isn't showing any symptoms (other than the lab work that came back positive after a fast-growing black mole was removed). She's on a regimen of supplements and I'll talk more, later, about what I'm doing for her too. So please stay tuned!

Who's the Boss?

Boss, Mia's temporary playmate for 6 weeks, finds a new home By Cathy Scott (Reprinted with permission from Best Friends Web site) Boss the Chihuahua faced a sure death sentence if sent back to the pound for misbehaving after he was adopted by an elderly person in an assisted-living home. Terrified of wheelchairs and walkers, 2-year-old Boss was “terrorizing” residents at the Las Vegas facility, where he’d lived for just two months, according to the home’s manager. He had to go. The day before he was to be returned to the shelter, however, a plea for help was issued from Oli Lewis with Sin City St. Bernard Rescue, who heard about Boss’s plight. Lewis couldn’t take in a small dog because of the enormous size of her St. Bernards, so she called me and I picked up Boss at the eleventh hour and took him home to foster. Boss was given his name because he was, to put it mildly, bossy. He was terrified of large dogs, new people and, especially, wheelchairs and walkers. When he was in what he perceived to be a frightening environment, his way of coping was to lunge, bark and bare his teeth. Sherry Woodard, Best Friends’ animal behavior consultant, evaluated the tiny dog to help me guide him past that behavior. When told that Boss was affectionate and sweet toward his 85-year-old former person, Woodard said, “That is who he really is.” The other behavior, she said, was a defense mechanism. Woodard suggested that Boss be allowed to get used to his foster environment, away from the noisy assisted-living home, and just be allowed to be a dog. His elderly person’s reaction when he barked had been to hit him. When he first met Woodard and barked at her, he didn’t get a reaction, other than positive words. Woodard described him as clearly confused and trying to cope in the environment he was forced to live in. Luke, Boss and Lydia In his foster home, I gave him reassurance and affection coupled with regular walks, a few hikes, trips to PetSmart and Petco, and rides in the car to drive-through restaurants – all to help him acclimate to new things and new people. Slowly, his fear disappeared and Boss became a happy, playful dog. Even better, six weeks after leaving the assisted-living facility, Boss has found a forever home with a family in St. George, Utah. He’s an example, Woodard says, that pet behavior can change with time and positive training, which is one of the goals of a No More Homeless Pets campaign to find pets forever homes. “Defensive behavior based in fear is so common in the dogs I meet,” Woodard says. “They need help to learn how to enjoy their opportunities for relaxing and enjoying a better life.” Today, Boss has that new opportunity for a better life with teenagers Lydia and Luke and their father, Dan Oliver. When Boss arrived at his new home, he was happy to be there, wagging his tail and looking up at his new family. The first thing they did was to take him shopping for a winter jacket. “He’s going to be the best-dressed dog in Utah,” Oliver says. Photo of Boss by Gary Kalpakoff Photo of Luke, Boss and Lydia by Dan Oliver

Introducing Mia

Photo by Barb Davis Meet Mia, a five-year-old long-haired Chihuahua with severe mitral valve prolapse and a prominent heart murmur. She was rescued from 4 feet of water in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by responders Jeff Popowich and Ethan Gurney with Best Friends Animal Society. This blog is Mia's treatment and progress report. I can't stop the disease, but I can improve Mia's quality of life while slowing it down and relieving the symptoms. I weaned her off of meds a year ago when I was told by her vet she would probably die of renal failure before the heart disease. Not necessarily a choice that all would agree to, but after careful consideration, that's what I did. Two years ago, she was given just six months to live. I hit the books, studied natural treatments, and put her on supplements. Today, Mia keeps the rest of my crew -- Woody and Rosy -- in line. Mia is a special, sweet little girl who has been through a lot. She has a huge will to live, loves people, loves dogs (after warming up to them). Mia's rescue from the water is included in Pawprints of Katrina. I'll keep you up to date on her mostly good days, her sometimes bad days and what I'm doing naturally to slow the progression of her disease. Please e-mail me with any suggestions. And feel free as well to share your own stories here! --Cathy Mia and Lois Lane wrestling while having a playdate at Lois' home. (Video compliments of Larry and Pat Donoho.)