Rescued dogs

[NEHunter 14]

I was wondering if anyone wanted to share there experience of rescuing a dog (of any breed). As a dog lover, and as most people into country sports are dog lovers, I though we could get some positive stories, some negative stories and some advice collected on rescuing a dog.

 

I'm not here to slate anyone who has had to let a dog go to a new home or a kennel, there are many reasons why this may happen and they are personal stories, different to everyone.

 

Personally there have always been dogs in my family, but apart from a mongrel my mother had when I was a child, they have always been brought up from pups. This was the norm for me and I love the challenge of having a puppy and helping it into adult life. And all of a sudden it all changed, on the 13th of January 2010 my girlfriend and I adopted a black lab. We had not set out to have another dog, as our 6month old pup was enough of a handful at the time. But she kind of chose us on this day. A good friend of my dads was walking his lurcher and beddys along the local beach when he came across a fat, panting, worn-out, shabby looking lab, this lab ran up to him and as soon it was close to him, she ran away again. And so he called my father to come and help him, my dad soon caught up with this lab, but same again, ran a mile. Next thing my partners phone rings and my dad calls her into help. She walks onto the beach with our pup, and immediately the lab runs up to her, wagging like mad and lets her put the lead on...

 

All is well she thinks, take the lab home, give it some food and water and phone the relevant authorities until we find the old lady who has lost this dog... No such luck, no one has lost a dog and the dog warden has no room (telling her 'i will have to get rid of one of my current dogs if you hand that one in!'). So I get back from my last day shooting of the season and find this lab in this house and get the story. We decided to look after it until someone came forward for it back. The first thing we noticed was the dog was terrified of men, it could not be around me and if it was it was tail between the legs and weeing itself in fear.

 

We took the dog to the vets the next day because we thought it had a very bad cataract on her right eye, this turned out not to be the case, and instead she has a scar on her outer eye, but she can see through it. The vet said apart from been massively overweight and unfit that the only worry was dodgy back hips (typical black lab!). We looked after this dog still waiting on the phone call and it never came. After a month the dog warden rang to say we were now the official owners of the dog etc.

 

The lab is now in fantastic condition and loves her life, she now has a fantastic coat and can walk further than the end of the garden without having a lye down, she even gives the pup a run for her money if a tennis ball is in the offering. She is still very scared of men, but is getting ever better and I am just getting to the stage where she can come for a walk with me off the lead without running home in fear. The only thing is her barking when no one is in the house, she gets scared then and barks a lot. Big thanks to the neighbors who understand her problems. With her loosing weight her hips are so much better. She also has the natural lab instinct to bring things back and walk about 6inches from your heel which is very good of her.

 

Anyhow, most will find this shortened story boring but I hope someone gets pleasure out of it, I'm not trying to preach dog rescue, as I said this was brought upon us. I just want to hear other accounts of dog rescue.

 

Hope you all have a good winter (best time of the year)

 

ATB, NEHunter.

[FightTheBan 1,147]

Nice story mate. Its great there are folk like yourself out there willing to put the time and effort in.

You must get great satisfaction from it.

FTB

[Daveo 61]

Iv got a very short rescue story because the pup is not 8 wks old yet......

You may have seen my other post?

She was a tiny, weak stinking pup with long sharp claws and her white coat was matted with her own filth to the point where no other markings could be made out on her, Also she had some "guests" both in her coat and in her gut, making her itchy and bloated to where she could only manage a mouthful of food at a time.

And her eyes ran constantly.

That was Sunday!!!

4 washes with flea shampoo, a massive dose of worming syrup (I have never seen so many worms, she left a squerming mass in the garden) a nail clip and lots of small meals of good grub and shes played in the garden with my youngest daughter most of the afternoon!!

She has a long way to go until she is how a pup should be and her coat is stained a yellowy/brown tinge... but we have made some good progress.

Its a nice thread this NEHunter, well done with the Lab BTW.

ATB Daveo

[Kay 3,709]

Well i have 2 greyhounds who previously ran .. they wernt rescued as such .. but its the best thing i ever did .. the first one a bitch came to me as expected a little scared as she had lived in kennels as they nearly all do .. but she settled almost right away .. soon got used to the normal things going on in the house

 

now she is trustworthy off the lead if she is on her own .. the male greyhounds been a little more hard work .. he will eat anything.. food & things he shouldnt .. so he has to be crated when i am not in.. he is a stressy dog & licks a lot .. but a 100% improvment on how he was when i first got him... he isnt so good off the lead .. he basically has a zero recall

 

but for me there ideal dogs & i wont ever have another breed of dog .. they fit in & cause me nore anyone else any problems .. top dogs in my eyes

[RaiderBoy 19]

Ive never adopted a dog but 3 out of 4 of my ferrets were rescued from a local rspca shelter and 2 of them have been gems but a little jill that was paired up with the hob wasnt very scared of any sort of loud noise and quick movements and gets really wound up and starts to nip when you interact with her she getting a lot better with daily handling and living around here i even got up the confidence to let my 5 year old cousine handle her last saturday, sadly though because of these faults i think she will never be suitable for working

 

Richard

[elpc69 0]

I've took in 2 dogs, never adopted them as such....

 

First one was a mongy thing, its owner didn't have time for it, it wasn't abused or anything, so I took it in had to bath her 5 times to get her clean...fed her up, plenty of walks, she wasnt good with kids but went to better home, she died last year from cancer.

 

Other was a staff, I'd seen it get kicked, punched locked in a shed by its owner, it made my blood boil instantly, after a few weeks of seeing this happening, I took the dog it was aggresive with my dogs to start with, quickly settled in, I basically, for want of a better word gave it some loving attention a little training, it had bad eczema type thing on its belly and chest, which I cleaned daily and put E45 on and it went after a few days. I had him about 6 weeks in total and went off to a friend in a loving home, but he's a good dog and willing to give love to his owner, but not 100% and I don't think he ever will, hes never forgot me thou, I don't see him often but when i do he wont leave me alone...

 

I hate any form of animal abuse not just, but more so dogs, there is no point in making any animal suffer, so I would rescue and "Foster" or just "hotel" any dog really, I couldn't "Adopt" as I don't have the room or money to do so full time, but I would make sure they went to a good home.

[NEHunter 14]

Fantastic story's. Thank you everyone. And congratulations on all your hard work. Happy hunting