Keko's Rescue Story

Keko and another Shar-Pei (Magoo) landed in the Lake Havasu Arizona Humane Society on June 1, 2016 through no fault of their own.  Their previous owner was incarcerated leaving both Pei homeless.  A volunteer from Pei People visited the pair at the shelter and assessed them.  Both were full of wet kisses and tail wags.  On August 11^th Pei People was able to gather the donations needed to spring both Pei from the shelter and placed them into foster care.  Pei People assessed the pair and determined that they were not bonded so the decision was made to adopt them out separately.

Pei People rescues and adopts Shar-Pei in California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.  They started in 2007 and focus strictly on rescue, rehoming and education around the Chinese Shar-Pei breed of dog.  Although they do not typically adopt dogs to Idaho we were able to get approved to adopt Keko.  The other obstacle was that we had to be willing to drive to Arizona and pick her up.  They do not ship or transport Pei to Idaho.  

Through the shelter and Pei People Rescue Keko was spayed and all of her immunizations were brought up to date and she was micro chipped.  They ensured that she had safe foster home to stay in, nutritional meals twice a day and continued to evaluate her temperament and behavior to help match her with a permanent family that she would fit into easily.  It was determined that she was great with other dogs and people and was in great physical condition.  She did not suffer from any eye, skin or personality issues.  With some Pei (like The Raisin that we lost in 2016) you would need to have experience with the breed.  Although they do not believe she was abused they do think that both dogs were somewhat neglected by their original owner.  If only dogs could talk.

    

Fast forward to Pei People sharing Keko’s picture and information on both their web and Facebook Pages.  It’s not too difficult to guess which member of the Dally family (guilty as charged) spotted this adorable mini Pei and fell in love.

This is the point in the story when I am thankful each and every day that Anthony is supportive of my type of crazy.  And trust me there are times when I even wonder about myself.  Not really being a dog person himself he not only gave the thumbs up for me to submit an adoption application (including references, vet information, breed experience history etc.) but he gave up a weekend to drive to and from Arizona to pick her up with me.  This also included covering her adoption fee, all travel expenses (hotel and meals) and he even managed to keep a smile on his face during most of the trip.  I only say most of the trip because it was a really an excessive amount of time on the road crammed into 3 days.  I think all of our smiles were wearing a bit thin by the time we returned to Boise.

Jay came along for the long journey to meet Keko and welcome her to the family.  We did discover that Keko liked to hog the backseat of the truck on the way home.  Jay is such a mellow fellow that he was never willing to press the issue in return but Anthony came up with a solution so they would share the space nicely using their new beds to give them both the personal space they needed.

We did have some interesting moments during our trip like difficulty finding a dog friendly hotel on the way home.  We decided to drive to Flagstaff after picking Keko up because of the heat in Scottsdale.  It was almost 100 degrees and we knew that Flagstaff would be considerably cooler.  We called the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Flagstaff from the road.  The woman at the desk said she would hold a room for us.  Unfortunately when we finally arrived (after dark and way past hungry) we learned that whoever we spoke to had not made a note to save us a room and they were totally booked for the night.  Heavy sigh.  We moved on to another hotel only to discover they had tons of rooms available but they reeked to high heaven of carpet glue (you could smell it from inside the truck) because they had put in all new carpet.  We finally managed to find a room at another hotel and then food became our mission.  We ordered food from the Outback Steakhouse Restaurant only to discover back at the room that they did not include any silverware.  We were so tired and hungry that we ate with our fingers.  Not easy to do with steak, chicken and mashed potatoes.  

Back in Boise Keko is learning the ropes of being a Dally.  She has visited Starbucks (Puppuccino heaven) numerous times, loves walking in the park (we are still working on those leash manners), enjoys shopping at Zamzows (they give treats at the register) and really likes car rides and hiking.  Another favorite of our new girl is visits to the dog park where she can run around like a wild child.  Thank you to Kelly Reed for the wonderful welcome basket she delivered to our house for Keko.  Both the dogs loved the treats and the picture frame is proudly displayed near the fire place.

As with any new furry family member Keko is still a work in progress.  It is obvious that she has not received any obedience training (we really need to work on come, leave it and stay), tries to jump on people when excited and is a constant leash puller.  Also she is always trying to get up on the furniture.  All workable issues that are not uncommon for any dog.

We are so blessed to have Keko in our lives and are looking forward to working with her in 2017 to help her be the very best Pei she can be.  It is fulfilling to know that we brought a rescue dog into our family and are extremely grateful to Pei People for their tireless efforts to save dogs just like Keko who ended up unwanted through no fault of their own.


Pei People Web Page

Pei People Facebook Page

Western Idaho Shar-Pei Rescue (WISPR) Facebook Page (Idaho)

Merlin's Hope Rescue Facebook Page (Canada)