It’s true! Every Chihuahua owner, guardian, mom, and dad have a Chihuahua story. Beginning in April 2022 ChiChis and Me will have a new feature: “Stories From Readers”. We want to hear your story! It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a writer because we want it to be in your own words.
I’m going to get it started with my Chihuahua story that you have never heard before. For details about how to send us your story, scroll to the bottom of this post.
HERE’S MY CHIHUAHUA STORY
My World Turned Upside Down
Back in the early ’90s (I’m not admitting my age:)). My husband and I were both working. Our only pet was a cat named Miss Prissy and life was pretty good. A dog never occurred to us because we both worked pretty long hours and liked to travel.
Then, it happened. My world turned upside down. I began having chronic, pain every day and I ran a temperature constantly every day for 4 or 5 months. Never a very high fever, just enough to make me feel like I had the worst case of the flu I had ever had in my life!
I was in the hospital for nine agonizing days while I endured every painful, uncomfortable, or humiliating test my doctor could think of. To make a long story a little shorter, they never found out what was wrong …not then. I was then bounced around from doctor to doctor until I finally ended up with a rheumatologist who diagnosed me with an illness I (nor anyone back then) had ever heard of — fibromyalgia. If you have it, you get it, if you don’t, you probably don’t really understand it.
Some people still don’t believe that it actually exists. I think part of the reason for that is that everyone seems to experience different symptoms — except one; pain. Unrelenting nerve pain. Nerve pain is the worst kind of pain.
The reason for telling you all this is it leads up to the greatest gift I’ve ever been given in my life. I struggled through another year or so of trying to work, but I finally had to quit my job. I was bored, in pain, and miserable. One day I was talking to a friend who told me I needed a dog to care for and for comfort. She went on and on about how much her dog was helping her through the same illness.
The Quest
I told my husband what she said and that I wanted to start looking for a dog. No matter how much I begged, cried, and frankly, no matter how many temper tantrums that I threw, he was adamant….absolutely no dog! No, I wasn’t trying to use my feminine wiles to get my way, I just was so convinced that I needed a dog.
The Phone Call
I have a stepson, a daughter-in-law, and a stepdaughter who all lived in another state. One day, I was on the phone with Jeff and was telling him my woes and about his mean father that wouldn’t let me have a dog. 🙂 He said nothing that I can recall, he just listened. He did, however, ask me what kind of dog I would get if I could.
I had already decided that I wanted a little Yorkie, a Bichon Frise, or a Coton de Tulear. Definitely a small, fluffy, or long-haired dog. And that is exactly what I told him. I had no idea he had an ulterior motive for asking me.
Then a week or so before we were going to go to visit them I got a phone call from my daughter-in-law. She said, “Don’t tell Don (my husband), but we got you a dog as a gift and are planning to give it to you when you get here, but I got to thinking we should give you a heads up.”
Needless to say, I was worried all that week. I visualized a big family blow-up and hurt feelings and all kinds of terrible things. Should I tell Don or not? Would it be better if he expected it? I was torn because they told me not to tell him. What would you have done? I’m going to just let you guess what I did. 🙂
Chico, My Bambino
The time had arrived and we traveled to their house. Jeff and his wife have always had Great Danes and at that time their Dane was Bono. We grabbed a few bags from the car and walked into the back door to the kitchen. Galloping around the corner came Bono to greet us. Right behind him was this tiny little black and white dog. It was quite a sight and quite a size difference! It took me a minute to see that this tiny little dog was not any of the breeds that I had wanted and certainly didn’t have fluffy or long fur.
I had to ask, “what kind of dog is that”? He said, “A Chihuahua!” I confess, my heart sank. A Chihuahua???? No! Anything but a Chihuahua, I thought to myself. They are nothing but mean little yappy dogs that are hard to potty train! Of course, I didn’t say that to them. I smiled and picked up the little dog and pretended to be thrilled. But, in my mind, I was so disappointed!!
But, you know that of course, as soon as I picked him up and looked into his sweet face, I fell madly in love. And best of all, so did my husband!! He said not one single word about the “surprise” and suddenly I had a Chihuahua!
But, what in the world do I do with a Chihuahua? What I did first is enroll him in a puppy training class. Then I read everything I could get my hands on about potty training. Thankfully, they had begun the potty training the week they had him before we got there. But, there was still lots of training to do.
My Obssesion!
Chico quickly became my “bambino”. He was my inspiration for ChiChis And Me! Soon I realized that almost everyone we met, walking, at the pet store, and even friends and family had some derogatory thing to say to me about Chihuahuas!
That made me wonder why they had such a horrible reputation. What I did was to begin immediately studying the Chihuahua breed. There was so much I wanted to know, every single thing about them. So, I read scientific studies, medical school library textbooks, and anything I could get my hands on that may apply to Chihuahuas and their health, nutrition, training, and behavior. Always making sure that the sources I studied were from legitimate scientific studies or journals, veterinarians, or dog breed experts. Actually, I found that at that time there was very little information specifically about the Chihuahua breed.
I was so saddened to learn that Chihuahuas were the second dog breed most often surrendered to shelters and as a result of so many in shelters, they were also the second most often euthanized dog breed. Most everyone that surrendered a Chihuahua gave “behavior issues” as the reason for surrendering. Those “behavior issues” most likely were unknowingly the owner’s fault. They just needed help, understanding, and education about the Chihuahua breed and all their traits and tendencies.
I became obsessed that I was going to change all that! Well, I haven’t exactly changed all that in the 6 years that I have tried through ChiChis And Me. But, if I can help just one person and keep one Chihuahua from ending up in a shelter, then that is okay. I’ll just keep trying. You can help me by sharing content from this website with others. Even those that don’t have Chihuahuas. They probably have the same opinion of them that I did before Chico, my Bambino came along.
You Can Read More About Chico Here: Meet Chico
TELL US YOUR STORY
What is your Chihuahua story? How did you become your Chihuahua’s mom or dad? Perhaps your Chihuahua struggles with a chronic illness. Or has overcome a serious illness? Have you lost a very special Chihuahua and want to tell others about just how special he or she was? Whatever your Chihuahua story may be, we want to publish it here on ChiChis Ad Me!
HERE’S HOW:
Write your Chihuahua story in 300 to 750 words and send it along with any photos that may go along with your story. Then email them to me by clicking on the button below.
You will be notified by email if your story is chosen, so be sure to add us to your “safe sender” folder or it may end up in your spam folder.
You can type out your story in this email or it may be easier to type your story of 300 to 750 words on a word processor or other software program, then click this link, and copy & paste your story to this email, and attach any photos you would like us to share.
If you have any difficulties or questions, just email me for help at admin@chichisandme.com
SEND YOUR STORY HERE: 👇
Always and forever, Chico, my Bambino. 3-10-2003 to 7-17-2020