Its hard to believe all these photos are the same dog, but this adorable sweet big eyed toothless Shih Tzu girl was under all those urine soaked dreadlocks. Flower is an old lady probably at least 12-14, a crusty little old lady covered in little warts, teeth rotted out over the years, wobbly knees and a slow gait. The tight mats and urine staining caused some ulceration and hot spots she was constantly trying to lick, but after some medicated baths shes feeling much more comfortable. And her vet visit and bloodwork showed shes in surprisingly good shape considering her age and all shes been through! The biggest and saddest surprise was how clean and housebroken she is! We were initially concerned she might be incontinent due to how urine soaked and stained she was, but she keeps herself very clean, holds it for long periods and goes to the bathroom immediately when taken out! That means she must have been kept crated or confined for long periods in dirty conditions she couldnt get away from for a very long time to get to that point Shes used a wee wee pad a few times if she had to but really mostly prefers to go outside. She gets so excited to find a nice clean soft bed and dive bombs into them. She loves to eat and even chows down on dry dog food with no teeth. She still has a little spunk in her- tolerates other little calm dogs but will tell them off if she get in her face or near her food, and was biting the vet which really just felt like licking with her crooked gums. Your generosity allows to give the most needy and deserving dogs like Flower in our community the second chances they deserve. Its only because of your support that we are able to keep showing up, week after week, year after year, to keep dogs like her from slipping through the cracks in the overpopulated shelter systems and get immediate and comprehensive medical care so they can leave their pasts behind. Please email njwoof@cs.com to meet Flower in Northern NJ if you would like to give her the quiet loving home she deserves in her geriatric years. Since COVID-19, we are no longer holding our Sunday adoption events until further notice, but we are scheduling meet and greet appointments with a specific dog or dogs at our meeting spots in Northern NJ. To streamline adoptions, all communication before, during, and after the adoption process is done through email only: we have limited volunteers able to return phone calls. Submit an application from our website www.secondchance.petfinder.com to speed up the adoption process and email any questions to us at njwoof@cs.com. Please check your email regularly for next steps. All our dogs reside in foster care in Northern NJ until adoption and we do not have a central shelter location. We are a small all-volunteer organization focused on rescuing local dogs from area shelters, as well as accepting some surrenders and puppy mill rescues.