to be held, she will whimper till I pick her up. When she wants her breakfast or dinner, or if she hears the doorbell, that 100lb beast comes out. Gracie can actually beat me into the kitchen from the bathroom. To watch her in action, one would never know she could not see. Gracie is a wonderful traveler. I have shown Yorkies since 1992 and she goes withme to all of the shows. In the hotel, I show her where the water and potty pads are located. At the shows, she rides in style in the trolley. Gracie also has a growing wardrobe, and un- less it is very hot, she wears her har- ness or dress. And of course, a match- ing bow. She also likes her stroller so we can go for walks or to the Crazy Yorky Ladies Jamboree each spring. Our theme this year was a Western theme and Gracie had her red plaid harness and little cowboy hat that quickly was removed by her. But she allowed me to add a bow instead. Next year will be “The Rocking 50’s” and her costume for the parade is al- ready being designed. Gracie, along with two others, will be rocking in the “Yorkie” skirts and leather jacket. Gracie has enriched my life by being Gracie. Her future is no longer uncer- tain. She is well loved and she knows it. Together, we can face anything life throws at us. Special thanks to Cor- rine and YTNR for allowing Gracie to become a part of my family, as she had my heart at first sight .It would be an honor for Gracie to be the winner of the 19th annual Smokey Award. Gracie and Smokey: two little Yorkies fighting adversity and an uncertain future. Both rescued, adopted, and loved allowing their fighting spirits to overcome any obstacle or situation life put in their path. 1 ST RUNNER: CODY by JackieWolfe Sweet little Kodak was an owner sur- render. When the owner contacted YTNR she told me he was thought to have a Liver Shunt and she couldn’t afford the surgery so the vet recom- mended euthanasia. The owner had rushed him to the emergency vet
seizure subsided. I met Gracie and Corrine at AA Vet Care for one of her treatments and to learn how to change the dressing. I quickly learned that the 2.5lb princess quickly be- came a 100lb beast when she did not want something done. Nevertheless, I prevailed, andGracie learned to enjoy the attention during these one-on- one sessions. I ordered all the supplies needed from Amazon and had fun changing the color of the coban to the color of her dress or shirt that day. Her leg healed completely and one would not know there was a problem. Graciemight not be able to see, but her other senses took over, and her hear- ing is impeccable. She quickly learned to navigate the layout of my home. Rug to potty pad, to another rug, and then a pad where the water was lo- cated. She wanted in my bedroom, but the baby gate was in her way. No problem! She just squeezed through the bars! At first, she stayed in a mesh playpen when I was gone and at night. Then, she worked her magic so she was sleeping on the bed with me, her teddy bear, and two other Yorkies. With pillows on the floor around the bed, just in case, Gracie slept near my side so she could feel me at night. She also likes to sleep with her head onmy shoulder. She has a favorite bed at the side of my bed where she sleeps dur- ing the day and sometimes at night. I put potty pads down in my bedroom and hallway into the bathroom. Now, she rarely misses them. There is also a water dish available for her by the bathroom for when I am on the com- puter or at night. During the day, I prop the gate open, so Gracie and the other Yorkies can move about. She is fed in her playpen, as she thinks I am starving her. The prednisone makes her hungry, and she would eat her food and also the other’s food if allowed. She is now up to 3.5lb. Re- member her hearing? Gracie can be sound asleep in my bedroom and I can put a dish of food down and here she comes. The other Yorkies in the kitchen have learned to eat when she is up in her pen. Their “grazing” came to an abrupt halt. When Gracie wants
when he started having seizures, had a high fever, and could not eat. Ko- dak was living in Ohio, so I agreed to take him. The owner and I met half way for me to pick him up. Ko- dak was four months old and weighed barely one pound. When I met with the owner I was shocked, poor little Kodak couldn’t even raise his little head. I said nothing to the owner but thought this little one would not make it. I had to feed him every two hours throughout the day and night for a couple weeks. Kodak was a fighter though and had a zest for life. The two hour feedings did the trick and soon he was moving around like a normal pup. I decided to wait to do a bile acid test because he was too weak to en- dure any type of blood work at first. When the bile acid test came back it didn’t show a shunt, thank God, but his levels were a little high so he was kept on the special liver diet. When he was in foster about a month, I let him interact with my other pups to see what he would do; he had been in an X pen for his safety. To my surprise he was the one that approached my other dogs to play, and from that day on play was nonstop. I waited until he was 7-8 months old to have him neutered because he still was too small for sur- gery until then. Now it was time for him to be adopted. Kodak (now Cody) became our new furbaby in November. I first met him when Corrine and I got together to pick up another dog and thought he was adorable! I was not in the mar- ket for a new puppy at the time, so did not have any plans for him to join our family. I kept up with his progress though and knew he was growing into the most beautiful Yorkie I have ever seen. I was extremely impressed with Corrine’s efforts to save this sweet baby andwatched fromafar his eager- ness to live life and his growth into a mischievous ball of energy. In the fall, it became clear that our other puppy, Ruby, a one year old Toy Poodle, needed a playmate. We had lost one of our senior dogs and another one had congestive heart failure and did not want to be bothered by a puppy who
66 • T op N otch T oys , J anuary 2019
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