• In the summer of 2007, a Chihuahua named Armani was born. Six weeks later, he was bought by this woman who smelled grotesquely of cigarettes and alcohol. He was intimidated by her. Everything about the lady was repulsive, her smell, lifestyle, and overall appearance.
    By the time Armani was one, he had already learned what it was like to be independent, and knew that his actions come with consequences. He understood that every time he had an accident, he would get no food for the rest of the day. He understood that if his owner didn’t come home before 3:00 a.m., she wasn’t going to for at least twelve more hours. He understood that when he was let outside, he had to stay in the yard or else he will get yelled at.
    One day, his owner left early in the evening, at about 5, which usually meant that she was going to come home around midnight. However, she never came home. Armani was hungry. He was used to it, so he just fell asleep in his usual corner.
    When he woke up, it was almost 5 o’clock in the evening again. One whole day had gone by, and the woman was still gone. He was starving now, but he knew better than to get into stuff and look for food.
    Another day goes by, and she still doesn’t return. Famished, Armani scratches at the pantry where his food is kept and manages to open the door. He sees the bag of dog food and rips it open and eats all he can until he’s full. A couple hours later, the lady comes home.
    She is acting crazy. She can’t even walk, let alone, see where she’s going. When she sees’s Armani, she spits on him. The man laughs. Armani cowers away into his little corner while his owner and the man stumble into the next room.
    He doesn’t know what to do. Should he stay and be forever neglected like some kind of toy, or make a run for it? Armani notices that the front door was left open, and decides that he doesn’t want to be there when his owner is normal again and finds out what he did to the pantry.
    While she and the man are in the other room distracted, Armani starts to head out the door, but stops. He wonders if this is the best thing, leaving a house where he usually has food and water. If he leaves and never comes back, he will have to find a way to survive by following his instincts, which he’s never done before.
    Taking a life changing chance, Armani bolts out that front door and runs for a couple miles without looking back or stopping. Once he’s far enough away from the house, he starts to slow down and eventually stops and falls asleep hidden under a big willow tree.
    In the morning, Armani wakes up and walks around looking for food. He spots a little girl feeding bread to pigeons and wanders over hoping to get some food. When the little girl sees’s Armani she tosses him the rest of the piece of bread and runs over to her mom.
    “Mommy! Can we keep him?”