Sig's story

2012-01-23T20:42:00.000-08:00

This is the picture from Petfinder that pulled at my heartstrings!

On December 26th, 2011 our family adopted a Yorkie! So what is special about a Yorkie you might ask? Well, all pets are special but our Yorkie has been on quite a journey of which we only know a little. Oh, how I wish he could talk, the stories he could tell....but then again, maybe it's best that we don't know his story as I am sure it is quite sad at times. However, like all good fairy tales...Sig's has a happy ending!

Picture from the BDRA website

Here's what we do know about Sig

He was found as a stray in Athens, AL.(a girl named Athena adopting a dog from Athens..Hmmm....must be fate)
He is missing his right eye. Why, we don't know. Our vet believes it was surgically removed. He does see perfectly fine from his left eye!
He had a terrible skin infection when found. You cannot tell by his picture but most of the hair had fallen off of his backside.
The pound had determined that he must have been a stray for quite some time.
He is believed to be around 4 years old.
He was saved from the pound by a rescue group. There is a high rate of euthanasia for small dogs in that particular area.
The rescue group then turned him over to the Blind Dog Rescue Alliance (BDRA), a network of volunteers all across the country who assist in finding homes for blind and visually impaired dogs.
Volunteers drove him from Alabama to Fairfield, VA to a BDRA foster family. Carol and Tom, his foster family, kindly cared for him until he could find his forever home.
We saw him on Petfinder.com. I took one look at him and instantly knew that he was OUR dog! The guys agreed!
So began the adoption process. Applications, references and even a home inspection/visit. Jared and I joked that we could adopt a baby easier than adopting this pooch! This waiting period was agony (I am sure it seemed much longer than it really was), I couldn't believe how much I stressed about getting this dog. I just really had a feeling he belonged with us.
Finally we were given the go ahead the week before Christmas. The rescue agency wanted us to wait until after Christmas to introduce him into a new home .Dec 26th I met Carol at the CVS in Staunton to pick up Corky (the rescue alliance's name for him) and bring him home.

Zane and I picking up Sig at CVS

How we went from Corky to Sig

We weren't really feeling the name Corky...ummm Corky the Yorkie...nah! The men felt that Corky being a male dog needed a more manly name. So we began tossing some names in the pot

Cy - short for cyclops. Cute but kinda insulting.

Aldean - for Jason Aldean of course, but Jared no likey.

Jack, George, etc..too plain!

Well my guys love the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch and there favorite boat captain is Sig Hansen of the Northwestern . One evening Jared and I retired to bed after watching many hours of Deadliest Catch on Netflix. As we lay there trying to go to sleep, I said to Jared "I got it, the name, Sig". Jared's reply "Wow, I was just thinking that". Not just Sig, it needs to be one of those fancy dog show type of names so his full name became Captain Sigurd Cupp but mostly we just call him Sig and he responds so it must be o.k. with him.


Sig's namesake Captain Sig Hansen of the Northwestern.

Sig at Home

We've had Sig for almost a month but it truly seems as though he's always been a part of the Cupp family dynamic!


Having a drink after coming in from a walk. He loves going outside on the farm. He has made friends with some of the outside cats, he wants to chase the birds and he's very curious about the cows!

Chillaxin on the sofa!

My first bath!

I hear Daddy coming up the stairs!

He's so spoiled. He was in bed with us from his first night!


Amazing what a trip to Petsmart can do! We got Sig's hair cut very short and it is helping his coat to grow back in nice and even.


So Handsome!!

So Why the Blog?

Last night I was looking at images of Yorkies. Sig's hair is starting to grow back in nicely and I am thinking do we go short, long or somewhere in the middle? Well, lets google it! For reasons unknown it pops into my head to change the search from Yorkie to One eyed Yorkie..a feeling, curiosity, who knows. This is the picture that I see.......

Its my dog...behind bars...in Alabama. I don't know what I was expecting to see when I googled "one eyed Yorkie" but I know I wasn't expecting to see Sig! It just about broke my heart to see this picture. We don't know what happened to him or why he was abandoned. All we know is that he is now healthy and happy. Wherever we go, the vet, the pet store, the bank drive thru...people are drawn to Sig. They want to know about him and they are usually pretty interested in his story. After seeing this last night, I thought "you know, you should save these pictures, write this stuff down so that years from now you can see how far he's come" so here it is....Sig's story!

I've never written a blog, I don't know much about it. I don't know if anyone will read it aside from my close friends and family who let's face it, have no choice! Hopefully I will keep it up to date as Sig's journey continues. All I can say in closing today is that many people have said how great we are to give this guy a home but I can honestly say the love and joy that he has already brought to our home has repaid that debt ten-fold!

Cuddliest Catch - Life with Captain Sig

Sig's story