Evie's Story Part 3: A New Life in Idaho

This is the third of a three part blog about a little puppy named Evie and the story of her life thus far, told through the eyes of a young woman with a big heart. Part three chronicles the arrival of Evie to the United States and transition to her new life in Idaho. We could not be more proud of Cynthia or more honored to have been allowed to play a small part in making this journey possible. Although Tim Shiffer is listed as the author of this post, the story below was written by Cynthia.

Evie's Story Part 3: A New Life in Idaho

I felt bad about keeping her in the carrier again for this 3-and-a-half-hour flight to Boise, and as soon as we boarded and were getting ready for take off she was whining too. She had been very good but I think she was also very tired of plane rides at that point. Once we were in the air she was still whining so I asked the man next to me how he’d feel if I kept her on my lap. He said no problem; he loved dogs. And I was happy to be back in the US where that was more of the norm. I opened the carrier and she tried to crawl up to me on her own, but I had to help her little bum up onto my lap. She didn’t whine anymore. She looked out the window and snuggled up and none of the flight attendants coming by with drinks said anything, so I figured we were okay. We both fell asleep, but I woke up when she started squirming and I knew she had to poop again. I had to put her back in the carrier and wait. She kept whining until she pooped a few minutes later. I think someone smelled it… I was used to puppy poop smell by now, but one of the flight attendants almost immediately asked if I wanted to come to the back and clean it up. I put her on her leash and tied it to a hook on the wall, so she could roam a little bit while I cleaned. She pooped again on the floor. The flight attendant gave me gloves, a garbage bag, a mountain of wet wipes, and paper towels and I got her carrier and the floor cleaned up. Fresh pee pads went into the carrier and we finished the flight. We were almost the last ones off the plane, because I had her on my lap again, and had to gather our things.

My mom picked me up at the airport and had a tub and some pet shampoo ready. She got another bath when we got home and didn’t smell like poop so much anymore.

I could feel all her little bones, so I poured her a bowl of dry food, and let her free feed whenever she wanted. I got in the shower and she couldn’t stand that I wasn’t with her. She kept looking at the steamed over glass door and barking and whining. She knew I was there but she was confused and scared of the shower it seemed. As soon as I stepped out she ran over to lick my feet and legs and insist on being picked up again. It was after midnight in Boise and we had had about 30 hours of travel, so it seemed best to go to bed. I turned on the TV in my mom’s guest room to relax since it had been so long since I had had a TV around, let alone in English, and Evie freaked out at the TV. Whenever there was a person on TV she barked at them with her ferocious little puppy barks. Watching TV wasn’t going to happen apparently. I left her on the floor for a minute where a bed, her food, and water were. But she put her little front legs up on the base of the bed and just looked at me with a slightly cocked head. She couldn’t stand for me to leave her on the floor, so up to the bed she came. She snuggled right in and acted like she had had a princess bed all her life. She even put her little head on the pillow. I remembered at the shelter, they just have concrete floors and wood cubbies with occasional pieces of fabric. She conked out immediately with the soft mattress and blankets. I just had to hope she didn’t try to jump off on her own, because she’d hurt her little legs from the tall bed.

In the early morning she woke me up and I had to put her on the ground so she could run over to her pee pad. I was glad she had no interest in just going on the bed. She seemed like a pretty smart little pup. The next few mornings I tried to put her outside with a pee pad until she went, but the first morning I definitely let myself sleep in.

The next couple days we hung around the house mostly, as I unpacked and did laundry. I couldn’t leave her alone for more than 30 seconds without her whining. We had to block her pff upstairs so she didn’t freak out my elderly cat downstairs too much but my cat was smart enough to know there was a puppy in the house. I realized that she was scared and didn’t know how to go down the stairs. If I ran downstairs to transfer laundry loads, she’d wait for me at the top of the stairs and whine until she saw me again. Once she was saw me, she stayed quiet and just cocked her head until I was close enough for her to lick or jump on. One day I taught her how to do the stairs. I sort of dragged her upper body a little, so she’d hop her back legs down and do the first stair. Once she realized she didn’t have to wait at the top and wouldn’t fall into an abyss (although she did tumble a little once), she ran downstairs after me whenever I went downstairs. She kept trying to eat my cat’s kidney care food and I had to keep scooping her up. I probably shouldn’t have taught her to do the stairs, but at least she wasn’t yapping from the top anymore.

We went to the Capital City Market on Saturday morning and I could not take more than a few steps without someone wanting to pet her. Although it was a bit much, it was refreshing to be in a dog loving country again. We went to a couple dog friendly restaurants and everyone loved her. I kept getting questions about what kind of dog she is, but it was a long story… “Well, she came from a shelter in Eastern Europe… She looks at least partially border collie to me…” If I felt like it and had the time, I gave a bit more of the story. It was not what people expected to hear. A few people thanked me for rescuing instead of buying. That surprised me some. Did people still buy purebred pets? It seemed so normal to me to take from shelters and rescue. My first cat was from a shelter, and the second was free at the entrance to a store (we took her and found out she had infections, a broken tail, and some other weird problems, so she turned out be very expensive but she is almost 16 now).

I had grown very attached to Evie, probably partially because she didn’t let me leave her alone for more than 30 seconds, and because of the journey we had. I could tell my elderly cat was stressed, though, and I wasn’t prepared to make a commitment for the full life of a dog.

Katie and Andrew took her in with their big grassy backyard (Evie’s first time seeing grass) and already spoiled cat. She is experiencing a lot of firsts in the US, and I’m happy that she was the twelfth I was able to give the kind of life that I think all the animals in Moldova deserve. They are some of the sweetest and most loyal animals I’ve met, because they’ve never been so loved before.

The Beginning

Evie is now living in her new forever home in the greater Boise area with two loving parents, a cozy home, and a yard to call her own.