Chong, the Rescue Dog

Janice, Chong’s foster mom: “Chong came to CRT as an owner-surrender. He’d been in a kill shelter for 10 days and his owner went back to get him on his last day since he hadn’t been adopted. Poor Chong, he had terrible diarrhea and a fever when he came to us. As soon as he was healthy again, his playful loving personality started to show through.”

Kerry, Chong’s forever mom: “We adopted our first Chihuahua, Cheech, through an advertisement. He was 1 year old and perfect. After 2 years we thought he needed a companion since we both are gone to work all day. We found Chihuahua Rescue and Transport accidentally on the internet and started looking at all the available Chi’s. We found several dogs that we wanted but the experts at CRT gave us their suggestion. If any of you have adopted from Janice…..well, you know you are getting exactly what she profiles her dogs as.

Janice: I was so excited to get Kerry & Rich’s application. They sounded so perfect for Chong! As we talked by email it very quickly became clear that here was Chong’s “real” family.

Kerry: After a few days of e-mails with Janice we were told that we could adopt Chong. We picked him up on February 3rd, 2008, and within one week he had learned the rules with almost no trouble at all. He sits up on his butt and back legs and will stay there forever (or until he gets what he wants). Cheech and Chong get along perfectly. They run around and around the living room chasing each other and both sleep under the covers at our feet, and we never hear a peep out of either during the night.

Kerry continues the story of how Chong really was a “rescue dog”: On March 3rd, 2008 I was awakened at 2:30 in the morning by Chong jumping on our bed and running up to my husband, Rich. Chong jumped on his chest and was trying to lick his face. (He had never done this before…and hasn’t done it since). I thought he had to go potty so I took him to the back door, but he would not go outside. By the time I got back to the living room Rich was sitting on the couch holding his chest. He was sure it was heartburn but we decided to go to the hospital anyway. Upon arriving at the hospital they told us he was having a massive heart attack right then and we were very, very lucky to have gotten there when we did.

What would have happened if Chong had not woken us up? Did he sense something was wrong? Everyone we talk to believes that Chong did wake us up knowing his Daddy was in trouble. Coincidental or not, he is what got us up that morning, so he is our HERO.

It is funny that since my husband returned home from the hospital Chong will not let him out of his sight……NEVER.

My husband is fine now and with diet, exercise, and Chong keeping a close eye on him, will live his full life. We can’t keep from smiling however, that when we went through Chihuahua Rescue and Transport…..we thought we were rescuing Chong…….not the other way around.

A lady I work with heard the story about Chong waking Rich and she called me the other day to ask how Rich was doing. During our conversation she asked me how I knew to get a rescue dog. She said "So Rich had been in bad health prior to the heart attack?" I said no, he was healthy as far as we knew. She then asked..."But how did you know to get a RESCUE DOG trained to alert you to the heart attack?" I didn't want her to think I was laughing at her, I said "No, CRT is a place where people rescue abandoned, mistreated dogs. It isn't supposed to be the other way around...it just happened that way".

Janice: We were so happy when Rich and Kerry adopted Chong…we had no idea that he would end up saving his dad’s life. We’ve often said that it’s not just the dog who benefits from an adoption, it’s also the family who is blessed with the love and gratitude of a wonderful dog who just needed a chance. In this case, Chong truly was a blessing. A life-saving blessing.

 

 

Chihuahua Rescue & Transport, Inc. (CRT) is not affiliated in any way with Chihuahua Rescue of Southern California.