Rubi

Our family was having a very rough year. My mother passed away, we lost 2 very old beloved dogs to different types of cancer within 2 weeks of each other. Six months later another young very loved dog was tragically hit by a car and killed which really broke our family and shortly after that my son was in a bad car accident which left his arm with a huge scar. Our family was really in need of something good and our one remaining dog was extremely depressed since the dog who was hit by a car was his everything. My husband was so crushed by the recent events that he couldn't even entertain the thought of getting another dog but there was a gaping hole in my heart and i knew that getting another one to love would help the healing process. I talked him into it and began my search. I found Naked K9 and saw the bio of Rubi. I contacted you guys and it seemed to be a perfect match. She was a breeder surrender who was currently weaning another dog's puppies so there was a considerable wait till we could bring her home. During that time i was in constant touch with Bernadette from Naked K9 who answered all of my questions and reassured me. I live in NJ and she was being fostered in Michigan so my sister who agreed to take a road trip with me started out at 4 in the morning and made it there by about 1. She was just the sweetest thing ever and i knew she was just what our family needed. She sat cuddled on my lap the whole way home. While i still feel the loss of my prior dogs and it still hurts when i think of them, Rubi has helped tremendously to begin the healing process. She is a bundle of energy and is just so loving. She loves when we sit on the couch to watch tv and she is immediately someone's lap warmer. My other dog Tony has gotten over his depression and while he is not as attached to her as he was my other dog, they both play together often and explore the back yard together. She has become the center of our family (as if we had a choice). She is loved and pampered and spoiled (like all dogs should be). She is highly (can't stress that enough) motivated by food and would eat us out of house and home if we let her. She was just what we needed and we love her to pieces. Thank you Naked K9. Dale

Louise

Louise came to us in 2014 as our first foster. We were thrilled to be given the chance to foster a dog. When we brought Louise home, at first she was very quiet and low key. This changed within the first week and she became a happy, playful puppy. Even though she was much bigger than our other dogs, she soon learned her place in the pack as the silly little sister. We worked very hard to find her a forever home, posters at community centers and schools and a flyer with her picture in all of our Christmas cards. However, as time went on, Louise became such a comfortable part of our family that we realized that she had found her forever home. Our first foster experience and we were a foster failure! Louise is a sweet loving dog. If she is not outside running around the backyard keeping the squirrels and chipmunks on the other side of the fence, she is snuggling with someone. She wants to be wherever we are and loves to ride around in the car. One day I picked her up from the vet after she had a small procedure. When they brought her out and she saw me, she broke loose from the assistant and ran to me and hugged me. The other customers in the office commented that they had never seen such an emotional reunion. I told them to rescue a dog from Naked K9 and Small Dog Rescue and you can expect this kind of love all the time.

Thelma

It’s hard to tell Thelma’s story without talking about our family. I grew up allergic to animals and it was hard. I loved them. I lived with animals but I was constantly ill. As an adult I had to avoid them. My husband coincidently is also allergic. We had a family and our children loved animals. We learned about hairless dog breeds. There were very few in rescue and exactly “zero” that could be adopted by a family with young kids. I tried to adopt for 3 years. When our children were 5 and 7, we bought Jayne. As soon as I held her, I fell in love. I believe I dreaded her departure from the moment we met. She gave our family 8 years of fun and love. She fought liver disease for 2 years. She was amazing, my constant companion. She was quirky and complicated, intelligent and strong. I will be forever grateful to Jayne. After Jayne passed, we grieved and waited. I wasn’t sure I wanted another dog. Could we handle another loss like this? I started looking in rescue again. We decided that life with a dog was infinitely better and we wanted to rescue because we could! I found 2 AHT dogs in Maine named Thelma and Louise but when I spoke to their foster mom, we realized they were probably not a good match. I kept my eye on the hairless rescues. And one day, There were 2 PIO puppies for adoption, oddly named...Thelma and Louise. The whole family was on board and our foster mom was really supportive. We flew the puppies to Maine from Michigan and when they arrived we were amazed. They were beautiful and wild! Both of them were amazing, high energy puppies. Louise had beautiful spots and she was smaller. Thelma was bigger and goofy. She was bold with her sister and lacking some confidence alone. As we were all getting to know one another, I started having allergy symptoms. I contacted our foster Mom for support. We decided to place Louise back with the rescue, hopefully reducing the allergens would help. I was heartbroken and full of guilt. I dropped her off with a Foster mom named Anne. When she opened the van door, Louise jumped in her son’s lap. And guess what? She never left, they adopted each other. She blended perfectly with this family and so she found her forever home too! So we kept our big goofy girl. My allergies retreated. Thelma who had some minor health issues pop up, grew is size and confidence. She became fully potty trained, she learned to walk on a leash. She learned to sit, stay and come when called (when she’s ready). She learned that bikes and cars don’t require a lateral jump into my arms. And road trips are fun. No need to vomit! Even doorways are not that scary. I never, ever thought that I’d say “go see!” about everything and everyone that we encountered. Thelma came to us at a perfect time, a complicated and difficult time. We dealt with the sudden illness and death of a close family member. And Thelma was a lot of work through all of it. All I can say is, that she’s worth every effort. She’s still goofy, mischievous and very big at 71 pounds. She’s still working on manners like leaving people alone who are indifferent to her charms. She’s patient when walking in downtown Portland. It can be tedious, she has to stop every ten feet to be admired, touched and discussed. The bonus is, that she gets to meet lots of dogs! She loves all dogs and tolerates all people. We’re grateful to have her and hopefully we can rescue another dog to be Thelma’s buddy and a new part of our family. We’re all grateful to Naked K-9 and all of the great people that volunteer to save lives.

Elsa

When I got behind the wheel on June 18, 2015 to drive to Indianapolis to pick up my first 2 foster dogs for Naked K9, little did I know that one of them - Elsa - would charm her way into our hearts and find her forever home with us. Elsa is a senior girl, but a little 10-pound spitfire. It took her no time at all to get used to her new home. In a short time, she started bossing around the other dogs, who were more than twice her size, and putting them in their place. Even though they had been in the family for 9 years, they never questioned her authority. She seemed determined to make my mom Helen her permanent human. Whenever Helen sat down, Elsa was right there beside her. Elsa prefers sitting on the left, and more than once she “wiggled” another dog out of the way to get her “place” next to her human. Her plan worked. When Elsa’s second potential adopter backed out, my mom suggested that Elsa needed to stay as a member of our family. So, just 2 ½ months after coming to live with us, Elsa found her forever home with us. Elsa is playful and still keeps the rest of the pack in line. She is a total cuddle bug, loves to give kisses, and is very fond of sun bathing. Elsa still takes her place on Mom’s left side and they enjoy taking naps together. She loves to crawl under the covers at night and is a bit of a bed hog. I still can’t figure out how such a small creature can take up so much space in bed, but no one seems to mind.

Joey 2

I wasn’t looking to add another dog to our family exactly but I love looking at Cresteds, they are so unique looking and no 2 are the same. There were a couple that caught my eye from time to time but I didn’t really pursue with 2 loves already. When I saw that Naked K9 had a Secret Santa event I thought perfect, I can help without trying to sneak another dog into the house. I was given Joey to be the Secret Santa for, I fell in love as soon as I saw that face and his adorable little snaggle tooth. Right then I decided that the best Christmas gift would be to give this boy a furever home. To my surprise my husband agreed. We made the drive to Michigan on Dec. 23 from Ontario, Canada to bring this guy home for Christmas. He is the best Christmas gift I have ever received. He fit right in with Diva and Kelso and while Joey and Kelso aren’t the best of friends he and Diva are. (Maybe a hairless thing, Kelso is a Puff). I don’t know much about Joey’s background other than he had 3 previous homes before we picked him up and at that time he was 3. I can’t imagine why he rehomed so many times he is such a love and makes me laugh daily. I always say it just took that long for us to find each other. He is my heart emoticon dog and always beside or on me, he has even been known to ride with me on the motorcycle. From day one he moved into our bed and into our hearts. Thank-you so much Mary Sousa for taking such good care of him. I am now a volunteer for Naked K9, I help make Pjs and recently over Christmas had my first foster. Not going to lie, almost a foster failure but she has a great new home and I can now help another. If you are reading this it means that you are checking Cresteds out even if not necessarily looking but you never know when you might see your next best friend.