I recently read a recipe for ice cream in which one of the ingredients was balsamic vinegar and my first reaction was, yech, who would mix vinegar with milk and call it dessert? But then, as it turned out, it wasn't bad and I was the one late to the party because vinegar ice cream was apparently all the rage amongst knowledgeable foodies.

I had a similar experience when I heard about the Sharpei Pug mixes who were coming into Toronto Animal Services South, rescued from a puppy miller breeding out in Mennonite farm country.

Sunday afternoon and I was walking up the stairs to the glass room where the two pups were having some playtime and before I saw them, I was like, "WTF? Why would someone combine those two breeds together and what market are they trying to sell to? What a ridiculous mix. Who in their right mind would ... OMIGOD THEY ARE SOOOOOOOO CUTE! THEY ARE SOOOOOOO CUUUUTE!" except, of course, that's not what I actually said out loud because that would be very unmanly. What I said out loud was, "Yeah, not bad."

But really, they were SOOOOOO CUTE! And very sad. They may be the saddest puppies I've ever seen which in a twisted way makes them even cuter (but only because I know they'll be snatched up as soon as they're put into general adoption).

As is so typical with many puppy mill pups, they've had little to no positive human interactions so when I put the leash on them and tried to take them outside for a walk, this is what they did:


The two wallflowers absolutely refused to budge and since I didn't want to drag them, I had to put one back into the kennel they were sharing, and carried the other one out.

Outside, I put the pup on the snow covered grass and he just stood there and started shaking. He wasn't shaking from cold. He was shaking from being scared. He'd probably never been outside, having lived his whole life in a puppy mill cage.




The pup stood and shook for almost ten minutes and I was about to bring him back inside when another walker came out with Ralphie. The pup immediately perked up and started sniffing the new dog. Ralphie, in turn, sniffed the pup and then, greetings over, they began to play, the pup a little hesitant at first but he worked up to full speed after a few minutes. They pawed, they climbed on each other, they mouthed and when the playing stopped, the pup stood still for a moment, uncertain again, then looked around, sniffed the air and realized there was a world to explore.


The best way to check on the adoption status of this dog (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter.