Somer's Pride, #204, DOB 8/16/01

Somer's Pride on the day of the rescue:

Somer's Pride, a month later

The email below is from Kathleen Connelly, who adopted Bridget, to Susan Field, who adopted Somer, Bridget's mom.

From: MICHAEL CONNELLY
To: SusanFField@AOL.COM
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 10:54 AM
Subject: Happy Birthay Somers

Dear Susan,

Though we have never met I want you to know we own Bridget Mullins Connelly she is Somers babygirl.

She arrived in Logan air-port one year ago this past Sept. 5th! She was so pathetic a bag of bones(her ribs showed) she didn't even know how to chew!! The first night I held her all night long I petted and sang to her She was so frightened and shy, WELL let me tell you that did not last long she is a nut case! First her nick-name became Ameilia AIR heart!! She flew over the gates over the couches hated the crate!! So first the crate went, then she learned to eat from a dish from soft to kibbles in no time flat!! The next nick-name was chopper for obvious reasons.

Now every thing is licks and kisses she even knows a few tricks. She sleeps on Dads side and plays tug a-war with Pete (our 4year old Kerry) She has no desire to jump a gate now sheeeee loves attention she is 19 inches tall and weighs 24lbs. She is not perfect and sometimes like all kids she drives me nuts with the in again out again and that little woff out the window that she knows will get Pete going!!We love her to peaces she's fresh and sweet she plays hard and at night just like a baby she crash's around 8 o'clock out for the count untill the next day when she wakes to her new adventure's.

She was a lot of work in the beginning,but now Michael ( my husband) and Richard (our son) wouldn't know what to do with out her.I know all mill pups come with baggage and Bridget is no exception, but we all know what a tuff beginning she had after all she was 6 month's old when we got her and had never been loved only by her Mum! So thank you Somers pride for our pride and joy.

P.S. My Grand-mother's last name was Somers! Somethings are just ment to be.
Hope to see you all at the Kerry Pic-Nic this August!

Kathleen Connelly

Susan Field's reply:

From: SusanFField@AOL.COM
Subject: [KBL] Somer's baby! and more about Somer
Date: July 18, 2007 6:37:07 PM PDT

Dear Kathleen and All,

Oh what a grand surprise to hear about Somer's baby girl.

Dear dear Bridget, Somer's baby girl. Let me tell you and all about Somer...What a miracle she is alive.Somer is only 24 pounds. Her ribs still show. Some of her bones had been broken and healed. When the vet first met her last Nov., he thought she had epilepsy because of her shaking and all her twitches.
She doesn't.

faster than a speeding bullet. It's almost like magic.
Somer is just beginning to be able to look at me
face to face. When I say "I love you, Somer" her
whole body jolts...and she turns her head from me,
or bolts to her special hiding place;
for she is so emotional and is afraid to show love.

Somer's fur is healthy now...soft and curly like
black velvet....

But Somer follows me everywhere. Whenever I get up, she gets up...

She still won't show me that she has to go outside.
I have to take her to the deck screen door, open it
and gently nudge her out...and then tell her what to do.
If she goes # 2 first, I have to sing to her the
Pee Pee Song.....If she does #1 first, I sing to her
the Poo Poo song. Sometimes, she does her business
on her own and she is very proud.

Somer will now come back in on her own just in the last month!
I have to stand with my back to her.. in the kitchen
and that is the key. If I stand by the door and call her
name..she runs away.
In fact, if anyone calls to her, she runs away, like a bolt of lightening.

I had a smaller fence built in the already fenced in yard that is about 3/4 an
acre. I call it the Faerie ring... It is Somer's space.

Somer is learning to trust safety, to trust that it is not a trick . . .

Oh, she hated her crate... She would stand on
top of it, and like Bridget fly over it. One day we had a
Crate Throwing Away Celebration.

Somer and I are very very close. I seem to be able to intuit what she is thinking.

She always runs away to the side of my bed
and that is her special hiding place...Then I sit down on the coach and
viola, here comes Somer. Or I pick her up. She holds on tight...
her legs very rigid and crossed...like an abused child...
I tell her "I love her." And sing her a song...I hold her and
rock her, very gently like a baby...She falls asleep;
she tries to sleep with one eye open...but she finding it harder and harder
to do.

When I leave the house, Somer often pees and poops on the kitchen
floor...on the ceramic tiles..Easy to clean, thank god. Also, when I'm not
home, I have to baby-proof the house. But she not longer becomes hysterical and howls...and knocks down
lamps...running in circles....She knocks my school papers to the floor.
She never shreds my papers, however. But she will shred a newspaper
that she steals out of the little trash cans....
And sometimes she does nothing...Bravo!

Somer so enjoys her food... She adores Chicken!

She is learning to bark...What a low and powerful bark she has. One would
think she was a big dog. She likes to practice her barking on me...
as if to say "Listen, Listen." She is very proud and loves to be
respected for her independence.

She loves to be called "Lovely Lady."
I also call her "Little Mama."

Somer sleeps on my bed...She has a soft pink
blanket near her...For the last couple on months,
she wakes up and shimmies to my waist...
she licks my hand and then turns over on her
back...belly up and lets me rub her tummy.
I think she is still sleeping...because all of a sudden,
she wakes up fully and realizes that she is on her back
and scoots down to my feet. There... she goes back to sleep.

She eats her food in her special hiding place...by the side of my bed.
She loves her special hiding place...

I love her unconditionally...the first time I saw her at O'Hare
airport...cringing in the back of her crate...Love at first sight.

More later....Thank you for sharing about Bridget....I am so moved.
I wonder how Somer's son Gulliver is doing...
And then there's Finnean...who came over with her to America
from Ireland-straight to the Missiouri Puppy mill.

Susan Field and Somer

From: SusanFField@AOL.COM
Subject: [KBL] Somer and Dylan, the buddy
Date: August 31, 2007 6:52:50 AM PDT

Dear All,

As you know I have adopted a little boy kerry...thanks to Tracey Fulmer and all of you here.

It has been fascinating...Somer! When she thinks no one is looking...takes Dylan's toys out of the "toybox." They are her toys, too; but Somer never plays... Well, not until Dylan. And when she thinks no one is watching...removes all the toys, carefully takes each one...puts it in her mouth and mimics that body movements of Dylan when he plays with toys. Oh, it is so moving to watch this. If she catches me looking at her she stops in her tracks...puts back on her "poker face," and acts like she never even saw the toys.

Somer sleeps on my bed. Puppy Dylan sleeps soundly in his crate with his toys.

Last night I awoke...and Somer at the foot of my bed was mimicking Dylan. She was acting like a puppy!

6 year old Somer, who birthed 40 puppies in the Mill and of course suffered horrific abuse for those 5 years, was a puppy at 2 in the morning at the foot of my bed.

It's never too late.

Blessings,
Susan Field, Somer and Dylan, the buddy

From: SusanFField@AOL.COM
Subject: [KBL] Kerry Yin and the Yang: Somer and Dilly
Date: September 16, 2007 8:26:01 AM PDT

Hello to All,

First of all Congratulations to Tully! Blessings and Blessings to All of you here...You give me so much strength and inspiration... And thank you Tracey Fulmer and Linda Grisly for their incredible compassion and patience with me. Yes, Somer does have a true buddy...Dylan...( We call him Dilly)

It IS working out. Somer and Dilly....the Yin and the Yang. This morning...this beautiful Illinois almost Fall morning... Somer and Dilly in the Faerie Yard, the yard within the yard. (Some of you know that I had to have a smaller fenced in yard built for Somer as she escaped in my big fenced in yard for 2 days last November until netted in by a Coyote catcher.. who said that she is faster and more wily than a coyote...)

Well, there in the Faerie Yard this morn..Somer and Dilly...Dilly rolling in the straw...( the Faerie Yard has a section with lots of straw...because Somer in the beginning would not pee or poop on grass or in muddy areas, still doesn't) ...and Somer, standing next to Dilly, who ended up on his back...spread eagle in the straw sunning himself in the morning Fall light...Somer transfixed at the sight of him...started to smell him... and Dilly, still on his back...seemed to enjoy it...He tries to play with her...Dilly loves to play...but Somer only plays with him
when he is sleeping...Dilly just 7 months...falls out when tired and sleeps like a baby.

Well, what a family...Anyway, it is a challenge...but a worthy one...Somer and Dilly, two beautiful Kerry souls..the Yin and the Yang of Life in their forever home....

Thank you, again...Rescue Coordinators Diane,
Tracey and Linda...and thank you All here
the two-legged and the four-legged...
Stay tuned, and To Life...

Susan
Somer and Dilly