Our next guest is Emily Bernie, founder of LIFE Animal Rescue.

Our boys are all rescues, three are LIFE dogs.

When Aiko, our Lhasa Apso passed, we were crushed. She was wild, ornery and loveable. I remember looking at the Shih Tzu's on Pet Finder one Friday evening. We are most familiar with Lhasas, Shih Tzus and Pugs. I was casually looking at a black and white Shih Tzu. He was 7 years old. I couldn't see his eyes so I had to blow up his photo. I asked Ken and Michele to look at him. They thought he was cute but didn't get too excited. I told them I wanted to fill out an application for him. I said, he's cute so there will probably be a lot of applicants so I don't have any expectations

I filled out the application and within 20 minutes, I got a phone call from Linda from LIFE Animal Rescue. Frankly, I was surprised but I welcome surprises so we had a nice conversation and made plans to meet Chibi on a Sunday afternoon.

We drove to the rescue and they brought out Chibi. He wanted nothing to do with us. I picked him up and he quickly bit me. I put him back on the ground and he just walked away. He didn't seem like the playful Shih Tzus we were used to. He wasn't interested in Yoshi or Preston Stedman. He definitely could care less about us. After a long time of watching this tiny black and white Shih Tzu ignore us, Laurie and Emily asked if we were interested in him. I instinctively said yes.

On the way home we decided to name him Chibi, which means small in Japanese. He fell asleep in Michele's lap on the way home. Once in the house, it was clear to us that Chibi was going to need a lot of space. Thank goodness he was food motivated.

None of us could get near Chibi as he would bite us and bite hard. He bit all of us 35 times that first day. I called our vet and asked if we could get an antidepressant for Chibi as I could tell this little boy had been treated horribly prior to coming to the United States. Chibi was used as a breeder dog in South Korea. He didn't have much human contact and what he did have, didn't sit well with him.

I thought an antidepressant paired with space and quiet might bring him around. Chibi didn't know how to play, was never potty trained but this boy was smart. We weaned him off of the antidepressant after 8 months. The biting had gradually tapered down to about 10 times a week. This little guy would draw blood, not because he was mean, he was scared. This is all he knew to protect himself.

Michele fed him and carried him up and down the stairs as we were told by the vet that he had very bad hips. Chibi ended up falling in love with her. He started following her around, looking for her constantly. I had never seen anything like this before. He started sleeping on top of her head. To this day, Chibi is madly in love with Michele.

I have become Chibi's second person. He has learned to play independently and he is a content, happy little boy. He sleeps with his belly up, snores and sleeps deeply. I find myself just watching him sleep and wonder how anyone could ever hurt such a beautiful soul.

I am incredibly grateful for the work that LIFE Animal Rescue does in finding forever homes for all of their rescues. Chibi will always be our special little lovebug. I hope you will find our interview with Emily interesting and heartfelt. Until next time...

Best always,

Shirley