So why do we have dogs from Peru? I know it may seem a little crazy, but first read my story and I am sure you will understand. Last September I took a break from IDR and spent a month in Trujillo, Peru volunteering at a school for the visually impaired as well as at a dog rescue. For those who know me well, you will know that before rescue took over my life I was a teacher of the visually impaired, so it always feels good to spend some time with kids. I Still haven’t figured out why I chose to do dog rescue there too, but I did and got sucked in.

On one of the first days at the vet clinic, I met a small dog who had come in the week before after being hit by a bus. They had not figured out how to get him to eat since his jaw was broken. He wasn’t even able to drink as he could not maneuver his tongue. He was just emaciated when I first saw him, so I asked them for some canned food, water and a big syringe (in extremely broken Spanish and with lots of gestures). I mixed it all together and sucked it in the syringe and fed him some. After a few syringefuls, he figured it out and was so appreciative. I didn’t want to do too much too fast, so I waited, but he kept running over to me with his mouth open for me to put more in. It was so sweet. I did this with him every day for a week, and after that he was able to eat canned food. I spent a lot of time with Milou and, as you can imagine, grew quite attached. I kept picturing him at the shelter they had there, knowing he would never have a real home. Most of the dogs with special needs do not find homes. It is hard enough finding homes for the healthy dogs since there are so many street dogs running around. The Peruvians just don’t feel the same way about animals as we do, which is understandable.

The other special girl, Kessia, was at the shelter already and had been there for many months. The first day I arrived, she had a big hole in her ear from the other dogs grabbing her. She tended to be picked on, mostly due to her injury I am assuming. Her story is another sad one. She was a guard dog for a shop in Trujillo, and some burglars came in. The story is they hit her leg with a metal pipe. The shelter I worked with fixed it, but a few weeks later it broke again. They just did not have the kind of funding to repair it again so had to leave it the way it was. I cannot imagine how painful it was. Poor girl.

Obviously, I worked with and saw many dogs in need but could not bring them all back with me. So I had to do what I could, and that would be help my little fighter, Milou, and the sweet Doberman, Kessia. Now came the hard part—working out all the details to get them back to the States. I ran into so much red tape; it was crazy. You couldn’t use a credit card, you had to be at the actual airport with them, etc. Buying airplane crates turned into another time-consuming and expensive ordeal; BUT when I left Peru, I thought I had it all arranged and they were to leave Peru in the middle of October. Not so. The cargo company that I had things worked out with stopped shipping live animals, so we had to come up with another idea. Idea after idea fell through until one of the IDR volunteers had a friend going to Peru for Christmas who offered to bring them back with her as part of her baggage. So the problem was solved, but it still took a lot to get them from the city they lived in to the airport 9 hours away in Trujillo. Luckily, the owner of the shelter, Erika, has a heart of gold and made sure it all worked out. The next problem arose when our friend was going to load them in the airport in Peru and they told her they could not land in Chicago in January due to the temperatures. It would have been nice if that had been brought up BEFORE getting them all the way to the airport. Lucky for Milou and Kessia, Alise, an IDR volunteer lives in Florida in the winter months and the woman’s flight stopped off in Miami. So we had them get off the plane in Miami and Alise drove the 3 hours to Miami and waited about 5 hours since the plane was late. Finally they were on US soil and both Alise and I felt elated. Together, Alise and I had been working out all the details to get these two here for about 4 months. So Milou and Kessia went to Alise’s until we could figure out how to get them to Illinois. Then out of nowhere I get an email from two other IDR volunteers that were driving back from Marco Island. They asked if anyone needed to be picked up along the way. They often transport Dobes back from the south for IDR as they spend a lot of time in Georgia for work. I jumped at the chance to have Milou and Kessia ride along. So they enjoyed Florida for a few weeks before they headed to chilly Illinois. After 21 hours in the car I got to touch my Peruvian babies again.

I am sure they weren’t all that happy with the cold and then they pretty much went straight to the vet. Milou had to get teeth pulled to help make his mouth close and help him eat better and he had some abscessed teeth. Kessia had to have her leg amputated as it was painful and very much in the way. It has been a long journey for both of them but they will be so happy when they find new loving families here in the States. They will both be up for adoption soon. If you would like to make a donation to their care please click on the button below. I have put a few pictures up of them while still in Peru and the shelter they were at. Then a few of them now.

To view a video of their journey click on the link below.
Milou and Kessia-The Journey
Thanks for reading their story.