my love

This is Sunni. Her full name is Sunshine Rainbow... it's a long story.

Back in the summer of '09 I had just graduated from college and moved into an apartment with my high school best friend, Katharine. I was kind of in a weird place in life emotionally. I had been thinking about a dog a little bit, but really wasn't sure. I am a huge supporter of animal shelters and pet adoption- I had been browsing online, but really couldn't find a small dog. My fear with a shelter dog is that it would be some strange breed that we didn't know about and it would grow into some huge monster dog. I wanted a little dog that I could pick up if I needed to since I am a little person.

Katharine and I were in Mandeville shopping- in a VERY weak moment we decided to go into a pet shop.. I know I know I shouldn't have gone in. Well they had just gotten these teeny tiny cutie 3 lb Malti-Tzu Bichon puppies. We made the mistake of holding them. I decided right then and there I had to have one. (Side note: I realize they probably came from a puppy mill-although I do know the owners name and they were local- I shouldn't have supported them I know I know I know- my roommate works for the animal shelter and we have had many dogs as overnight fosters and even fostered week old bottle baby puppies until they were old enough to get fixed and adopted- so I have paid back my wrongdoing ten-fold)

foster bottle babies- squirrel, pauly d, and vinny.the first day we got them- we had 3 originally, but 1 (vinny)died of pneumonia :-(

Squirrel- 3 1/2 weeks

Pauly D- 3 1/2 weeks

3 1/2 weeks

Our last night with the babies- Pauly D (left) Squirrel (Right)

Okay back to Sunni- after I decided I needed one, I told the man I only wanted to hold boy puppies because I figured that if I got a boy I would have a little while longer to wait before I had to get him fixed and they were a little cheaper. So Katharine and I fell in love with Patrick. We signed his papers, bought all blue paisley accessories, a kennel, and we were off to Petsmart to make his ID tag. We had been home with Patrick for a few hours when I got a call from the petshop. The man asked me if Patrick was a girl. Hmmm.. we told the man we only wanted to look at boy puppies, so we didn't even look to see if he was a boy or not! I know it sounds crazy- but we were in puppy love. So sure enough we checked Patrick and he was a girl! Back to the petstore we went because since they are purebred mix puppies they have paper work and we had to have the one for a girl. We were in love with Patrick so we kept her anyway. Now here was the issue- do we keep his name? Patrick was such a cute name for this little puppy. I finally decided to change his name so I wouldn't have to tell the whole story when people got confused by a female Patrick- I also did not want her to be nicknamed "Patty". So somehow it evolved into Sunshine Rainbow. Not sure where it came from, but it fits her well and kind of shows you a little bit about me too :-)

This little puppy turned out to be a wreck! She cried in her kennel, cried (BARKED) the entire time you would leave her, and once we gave in and didn't keep her in the kennel she would jump the baby gate from the tile kitchen to the carpet living room. Katharine and I could not figure out how she got to the other side every time.

She still is a jumper! Look how excited she was one day when I got home.

Since I bought her on such a weak moment, I didn't even research the breed. They are very inclined to have separation anxiety (which is an understatement), they are diggers, and obsessive dogs. I had always had cats growing up and we had a dog, but we didn't get her as a puppy. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was in for. Sunni is a wreck. That is really the best way to describe this dog. She wasn't potty trained until close to a year- which is common in small dogs- but still not fun. She would destroy the house when you left- she would tear up toilet paper, get in the trash, eat food, climb on the table.. you name it she has done it. When I moved out of the apartment and into a house we started locking Sunni in the back room so it was "her room". It worked! She didn't destroy that room because it was her place. Sunni will be 2 in April and while she is still a wreck, she has gotten a lot better- we have also learned how to Sunni proof the house :-)

I love her even with a dirt beard.