THE STORY OF SWEET MOMMA, THE LITTLE BLACK DOG
by NICOLE HERRERA.........................................
The Story of "Sweet Momma", the Little Black Dog - An Adoption Tail
December 7, 2013 at 8:47pm
The Story of Sweet Momma, The Little Black Dog, an Adoption Tail

After growing up with pets all my life, then joining the service for four years without

them, I vowed
to get a pet as soon as I could. I got out in 2000, and only lived here a month before I went to

the local shelter looking for a pet.
I wanted to start off slowly with a cat or a kitten first, then work my way up to a dog. So I

went to the shelter,
and looked at the kittens. I had saw a few in a cage in the office. I stuck my fingers

through the cage bars,
playing with them while I spoke in a high pitched voice. When I did this, I noticed that in the

cage behind the kittens', there was a little black dog standing in the corner of her cage that

stuck out past
the kittens' cage. She stood there staring me, so I scooched up to her and peeked in her cage. I

noticed
she had a cute little mini-me puppy of herself. I stayed there a good minute oohing and cooing

her and her puppy.
She seemed to enjoy it. I realized that she had come out to the corner of the cage to where she

could see me because
her puppy had been lying in the part set back behind the kittens' cage where he couldn't be seen.
That was on Monday. I decided to come back later in the week to pick out a kitten. So on

Wednesday, when I
went back, I was told the kittens were sick and not available for adoption. Well, I really wanted
to go home with a pet, so I asked about the intriguing little black dog. The shelter employee, Steph, told

me her story:
she had come in with 3 other dogs, all chihuahuas or mixes, from a lady who was a puppy mill

breeder and no longer
wanted them. Neither the lady nor the shelter staff knew that the little black dog was pregneant

when she was
brought in. Days after being turned in, she gave birth to her adorable little boy puppy, so

they named her "Momma." A local rescuer, the first person I befriended here, nicknamed her "Momma Pajama." Steph told me that she
was apprehensive towards people, and at some point in her life must have been mistreated. So

Steph was working with her
consistently taking her on walks every morning when she went to get the mail, for 2 months now. I

told Steph I would take Momma home, and Steph told me she wanted
her to go to a special home because of her history, and the work Steph was putting

into her. I told her I would
also take the puppy, but Steph said he was already adopted. She brought out "Momma Pajama" to me

to get aquainted with her.
"Momma" was very apprehensive towards me, but didn't run away. I stayed there for about an hour

letting her warm up to me. I wanted to baby this
momma dog, since she had already been a momma to so many in her short 5 year life. I wanted to

give her a name reflecting her nickname and history. Since it is bad luck to change a pet's name,

I called her "Sweet Momma."
Returning on Friday, I spent more time with her on the floor until she was comfortable

with me. Finally, we were all
confident that she was ready to come home. When we got home, I took her outside for a

walk. I did not know that she
was only walked on a harness while at the shelter. So Momma bucked out of her collar and leash and tore

off down the road. We immediately
went searching for her all afternoon, evening, and all night. We spotted her down the street at a

neighbors where we could see her eyes
reflecting in the light of the flashlight. When we tried to come close to get her, she darted off

across the street into the woods on a vacant lot.
From there, we lost her. The next morning we made signs and posted them all around the

neighborhood. They said "Lost: Little Black Dog Reward if Found."
We searched high and low, and around 1 PM in the afternoon on Saturday, I gave up. I laid on the

bed heartsick that my first furry friend in 4 years
was gone. Surprisingly, only twenty minutes later we received a phone call that she had been

found only two streets away by a retired "dog catcher."
He had cornered her under a set of outdoor stairs. He'd seen our number on one of our signs and

called. I was thrilled. We brought her back
home, and from then on I only walked her in a harness. I then trained her to walk with me outside

without a leash, and she became my constant walking companion. We formed a "skinship," sharing the same spirit.
I spent the next four months enjoying her company and fixing up our home. We would listen

to the radio, while I worked in the house. When certain songs came on,
like "Who Let the Dogs Out," I would sing them to her in honor of her great escape out of the

harness the day she arrived. The
first 4 months she was with us, she was not used to being indoors, and didn't know how to live

inside. She would jump on the couch while I was gone, but then when
I came home, she would immediately jump down. After awhile, she realized it was okay for her to

stay on the couch. Eventually, she discovered the recliner, where she
got comfortable. So in January of 2001, when I started college, and I would get ready for school

in the morning, I would put a plate of dry food in front of her and give her a "bowl of cereal"

to eat on the
recliner.
A couple of years later, she went on her first roadtrip. We journeyed to northern Michigan

for six weeks to visit my husband's home and family.
While there, we took her to Lake Superior for the day, walking on trails and the beach. Her only

other roadtrip was the ride back home to South Carolina.
"Sweet Momma" made a number of friends over the years. Her best friend was my mother-in-law's dog, "Lillie", "Kittie", then "Nimber", and 5 years later her brother "Rex" came to live

us when she was 10 years old. She also helped us watch mom's dogs "Missy" and "Beau" when we dogsat them.

Eventually, she would meet newcomers "Sadie" and "Cleo." So "Sweet Momma" was never without

company. She had many friends, toys, nummies (treats), nicknames, and scratches.
In 2008, I started volunteering at the same shelter where I adopted "Sweet Momma." I

wanted to do something productive for our community, and postive for our furry citizens, and at

the same time, also give back to the place that united me with Sweet Momma. I had been

volunteering for the shelter for a few years when the group I volunteered with, called FoCCAS,

was holding it's first Saturday at the Shelter Adopt-A-Thon in 2011. Serendipitously, one of the

first pets adopted at this such event was a little black dog, named Tiny, and was adopted by the

very same "dog catcher" that had found her for me 10 years earlier! This was a special moment as

it "completed" the first sacred circle. The second sacred circle will be when I meet "Sweet

Momma" at the Rainbow Bridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYd_doxZIYM

, and we will cross over

it together, never to be parted again.


Rest In Peace my sweet, sugar-coated princess. Our journey is not over. A small creature, you

made a big difference in my life. Picking me, you made this place home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPZ40bu6P0Y

Now you are in your furever home, reunited with

"Missy", "Lillie", "Kittie", "Petri", "Sweet Pea", "Max", "General Custard", "Fluffy", and making

new friends completing a new sacred circle: "Patches", "Garfield", "Bonitos", "Loki", "Cocoa",

"Christabelle", "Bailey", "Blackie", "Jumbo", "Goldie", "Beauty," and so, so many more...

R.I.P. My friend, 1995-2013, 18 years young, and see you at the bridge... https://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm

Comments would be appreciated by the author, NICOLE HERRERA
 
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