Rescue stories!

[TribalRats]

I am in need of some heart warming and probably some heart wrenching rescue stories....
Who is going first?

[Crossfire Bulldogs]

Some time back I had submitted a story about one very special rescue that came to me in hopes that our rescue group could use it in the future and I thought I'd share it with you all. The story was published in Bulldogger as well.

Minnie’s Story

Minnie came to us last year. Her owner called me, as she was trying desperately, yet hesitantly, to find a new home for her eight-year-old female Bulldog. The owner said Minnie was very special to her, but they had just bought a home which would require major renovations, and their current home had sold sooner than they expected.

They had hoped to finish tearing down walls, taking out old plumbing and having most of the renovations done before moving in, since Minnie didn't "do well with change." Now they would have to move into a hotel for several months and then move again into the new home with work still in progress.

The owner explained tearfully that she knew in her heart this would all be too much for Minnie Pearl. Although she loved her dearly, she felt it would be selfish to put her through so many drastic changes and wanted to do "what was right" for Minnie. We met Minnie the next afternoon, and found that she was a very special girl, indeed. She seemed a happy and healthy eight-year-old, still very full of life.

Minnie was originally a favorite of a BCA breeder. She had been shown and had one litter, but had to be spayed due to an infection, thus ending her show career. The breeder gave her away to be loved and kept forever in her new home. After much discussion, we agreed to take Minnie and look for a new home.

The owner signed the release form, and we stood by as she packed Minnie’s favorite things and gave her hugs and kisses and apologized to her for not being able to keep her as she had promised. She told her she loved her and she would always be her special girl but that she had to do what was right because Minnie had always given their family her love and devotion, and she wasn't going to just stop caring for her now.

As we walked Minnie to our car, the owner continued to tell her how much she loved her and how sorry she was and how she wished things could have been different. I assured Minnie's owner that we would take care of her and love her as our own and would find her a new home full of love. As we drove away, I could still see Minnie's owner standing in the street crying and knew how hard it must have been for her. I began thinking of how difficult this venture might be; as I looked into Minnie’s big brown eyes, I wondered if she would spend her last years with us.

Minnie quickly wove her way into our hearts, and we became very protective of this special girl. It seemed that no home was good enough, but some months down the road, we were contacted by a woman looking for a special Bully. She was active in Siberian Husky rescue, but was looking for a friend that she could have in her home. She had done much research on the breed. After several talks via email and telephone, we decided to meet, and it was love at first sight!

Minnie Pearl today is still a very special girl. Her new owner, while still very active in Husky Rescue, is a true Bully fan, and Minnie is her pride and joy! Minnie has her new mommy wrapped right around her beautiful paw. She not only runs the house, but also runs her owner's company, where she has her own office, complete with a personalized bed. Prospective clients must be "Minnie Approved" before the owner considers doing business with them because Minnie is a great judge of character. People that shy away or can't handle a little Bully slobber are not those that her owner chooses to deal with.

Minnie helps with Husky Rescue, too. She goes along to do home inspections and pick up rescues and shows the new arrivals the layout of her home. Don't think that Minnie is intimidated by a Husky; she makes it known quickly that she's in charge and what the rules are!

Minnie is somewhat of a therapy dog as well. She has a "play date" every Wednesday at a beauty shop next door to the office. The shop has Senior Day on Wednesdays, and Minnie Pearl visits with the ladies as they get their weekly hairdo. She's become so popular that these wonderful women took up a collection and bought Minnie her own personalized bed for in the shop, and even her own hairbrush!

Our Minnie Pearl has touched many hearts and continues to be a much loved and very spoiled little girl. Really, isn't that what rescue is about? We can make a difference, and Minnie is one of many that prove that life is worth something and rescue is worth doing!

May every rescue find a new forever home!

[misdemeanorsmom]

[wehkah]

I wish they had Princess' whole story there but here's the abridged version. They shortened it because she was adopted!! Yea!

http://www.greatlakesweimrescue.com/donations.htm

[Doglover1988]

Can it be a dog that I myself have rescued?
Zoe was a sad story. She was found by my grandmother. My grandmother was walking down the road and started getting followed by a little dog. She was skinny infact she was emaciated. She also had a deformed ribcage with some missing ribs the vet said someone could have kicked her and they said it could also be a birth defect. She had a limp and She had just raised a litter of puppies because her nipples were bagged and saggy. She had a worn spot around her neck from being tied up. I didn't even bother trying to find her previous owners. She was so scared! She flinched and ran away if you just lowered your hand to pet her. She spazzed out (threw herself down and shook) if you raised your voice. She quickly learned that not all people were evil. She turned into the most loving dog in the world. She had never walked on a leash when I got her she would throw herself down and refused to walk she thought the leash was evil. She finally learned how to walk on a leash and she ended up being an awsome loose leash walker without any training at all. The first day she refused to come inside the house, she had obviously never been inside a house. Although she had never been inside she has never had one accident she would rather her bladder explode than pee on the floor. It also took her two weeks to even try out the steps she was scared of them and not used to them at all. She is now a very well adjusted dog. She doesn't know how to play with toys though. She has never put one in her mouth in her lifetime although I have tons of them. She is my heart dog my best friend and companion and such a sweet dog. She knows about 30 tricks and behaviors and it only took her a few minutes to master each one. How someone could be mean to her is beyond me..She is the sweetest little dog in the world.

[dalfriend]

Amber:

Amber was a pit mix surrendered to our local high kill shelter. The shelter euthanize pits almost immediatly after they have been held for their "stray" period. The rescue I work with and I had gotten money for another pittie in there, a black & white puppy. The lady who runs the rescue called the shelter to let them know when her vet appointment for the black & white pittie was going to be. She was told then the dog had been euthanized. (Supposidly because it was sick but who knows)

Everyone was broken hearted and Deb offered to refund everyone their money. Everyone said instead please use the $ toward another pit. So...We decided to use the $ for Amber.

People around here are leery of pit bulls, even mixes like Amber who dont look a lot like pit bulls. We asked one of our fosters Joy to take her. Joy said that she would "try her out". It didnt take long for Amber to win Joy over.

About 2 months after Joy had started fostering Amber, Joy sent me an email telling me that someone had tried to break into her house & Amber had scared the intruder off. Needless to say Amber isnt ever going anywhere. She now has her "happy ending"

The scariest part is not 2 weeks later, someone in the same area was killed during a home invasion.

Amber the hero dog.



PS-I tried to get our paper to pick this story up but they wernt interested.....

[Glitzie]

I have DaKota's story.
We moved here in 1999. A small three bedroom. My Boyfriend bought the house for me & my daughters. He had Klyde (a GSD/X).
Klyde was a handfull. Supposively trained for protection by my Boy Friend. Klyde was alot of noise. Barked alot & was not allowed to play outside. There was a Lady down the street with 4 teenaged boys, who were the hoodlums in the neighborhood. They always seemed to have different dogs each week. They had DaKota & wanted "an attack dog". My Boy Friend went to see her. Since the boys were troublemakers, he said no. A few months later they were evicted & had to move. Still dogs were coming & going. The last dogs were a cocker spaniel, a long haired GSD, DaKota & 2 Saint Bernard/X puppies. Come to find out, The kids were teaching the dogs to bite and wwhen the dogs bit they would turn them to different shelters to get new dogs. DaKota is not a biter. They starved her, beat her & gave her illegal drugs. When the time came to move my Boy Friend asked what were they doing with the dogs they had. They were going to drop them off on the highway! He saw DaKota tied to a tree on a 4' ft leash. All skin & bones. He asked if he could take her to his work & have her put to sleep. She looked way to sick to be dropped off. The Mom agreed. They dropped her off in our yard on the way out. She & klyde were a hit right off. Even though we did not have them together right off. He took her to his work to be PTS. The head vet looked her over throughly & asked why is she being put down? She was in good health just not fed in a long while. My Boy Friend brought her back home. She had no training what so ever. She was 1 1/2 yrs old, 33 lbs & no housetraining at all. Well, a small house & 2 big dogs was a tight squeeze! We had her toilet trained in a week! She was great with my girls. They were gentle with her. Me, I really did not want another big dog. We did put the word out for a free dog. My Boy Friend & I took her in for a grooming at my work. OVEY! The worst I ever seen!
She freaked in the tub! Come to find out, Wheneever she barked at the other place, they would pour scalding hot water on her! When she was done wwith her bath, I did not realize how gorgeous she was! After a week of calls, no one sounded like the right fit for her.
One night I really looked into her eyes. I thought a while & told my Boy Friend that I thought she would not survive going to another home. He asked if I would even consider keeping her. I thought all night about it & decided she was here to stay. I loved dogs ever since I could remember. I always thought a dog was a dog until her. She has taught my girls & I alot! We all think she & Glitzie are the best! She is top dog here & always will be!

[chocolatecoffee]

Oh, I have a very recent one!

Winky

A bit of background...the main rescue that I volunteer for rescues dogs in urgent situations, wherever their life is in danger. Therefore, a lot of the dogs we rescue come from high-kill shelters in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina, and back in September we got a Catahoula named Winky in. He was pulled from a terrible hoarding situation, and, due to severe abuse, he lost an eye, only has partial vision in his remaining eye, and is also partially deaf. Understandably, he is also extremely skittish and so when he slipped his collar back on Saturday, January 6th, we all went into a panic.

We immediately launched a huge search, but there were no leads. Moreover, his foster mom, the one person he trusted, had to go out-of-town. For the most part, media wasn't really interested in getting the word out, but thankfully one radio announcer heard our pleas and started a segment on her show: "Where in the World is Winky?" People started offering up reward money, volunteering, and we even got the help of an animal communicator and tracking dogs. However, it seemed as though we were always one step behind him - there would be a sighting, the person who saw him would try to catch him but he would bolt, and we couldn't find him anywhere. We were chasing him all around the city, but he was certainly leading us on a wild goose chase. The tracking dogs would track his scent, we'd leave food and scent pads wherever we thought he might be, but all to no avail. And of course this guy isn't used to Canadian winters being from Louisiana, and we were getting dangerously close to record lows.

Well his foster mom got back just before the weekend, and spent her days searching for him. Then this past Saturday, we got a call: Someone had spotted Winky! His foster mom rushed over, found Winky, called him to her...and this dog that had been bolting from everyone for TWO weeks came right up to her, his foster dad, and his doggie sister. She put a collar on him, snapped the leash on, and went home.

Winky lost 10 lbs on his two week run, but amazingly enough is in good health otherwise. He went back home, plopped himself on his bed like he'd always been there and everything is back to normal. His foster mom promised him a big steak when he got home, but he has to avoid the rich foods for a while until his tummy adjusts again.

And best of all, Winky will decide by the end of the month if he'll keep his foster family for good .

Winky back at home with his foster mom:


Cutie!


Now I'm a sucker for the one-eyed dogs, can I tell you about little Cannelle?

Cannelle
Now, if you want the start of a recipe for disaster, she was bought from a pet store as a puppy. She was taken home and was promptly put on a training plan, which can be summarized as "smack her when she does anything."

So Cannelle was hit for anything she did associated to being a puppy...accident? Smack! Chewed on something? Smack! Breathed? Smack! However, I don't think this training method was very successful and so, when she was 6-months-old, her "owners" deemed her "untrainable" and dropped her off at the vet's to be euthanized. They couldn't be bothered.

Naturally, the vet couldn't bear to euthanize such a healthy, highly adoptable puppy and a volunteer there just fell in love with her. The volunteer decided to take her home for the weekend to see how she was with her dogs, and if all went well she planned to adopt her. Well, everything went terribly wrong...

The volunteer took Cannelle home and plopped her in front of four large dogs who must have mistook her for a chew toy (it's not the dogs' fault at all, how were they to know? It was the idiot who wasn't paying attention). And so Cannelle was practically ripped to shreds, her eye actually popped out, her cheek shattered, and the only thing that saved her was her screaming, which apparently caused the dogs to drop her.

Cannelle was taken to yet another vet, this time hanging on for dear life with practically no hope. She went into the care of a local rescue group and, miraculously, the little trooper pulled through. In the end, the only permanent damage was the loss of an eye and some damage to her trachea (which barely bothers her at all now, there just can't be any pressure on her neck). The vet expected damage to her optic nerve and thought she'd lose the vision in her other eye as well, but not Cannelle - her other eye is perfect, just like she is. The rescue director fostered her for a couple of weeks, and then asked one of their foster homes if they could take her in. Well, we really couldn't say no to that face!

And so, just a few days before Cannelle turned 8-months-old and just one week before Christmas, Cannelle finally found her forever home with us. It's been just over a year now, and she fits in perfectly with her sisters (her name means "cinnamon" in French, her sister is Panna, or "cream" in Italian, then her other sister is Mocha ). Isn't she beautiful?



Then there's Pumkin. It's sad, but her memory lives on.

Pumkin

Pumkin (not "Pumpkin", but "Pumkin"...she's special and has a special name ) was found tied to a tire in Louisiana. She was a 7 lbs. Yorkie X, left outside with no food and no shelter, and Yorkie rescues wouldn't take her in because she wasn't purebred. So a feral cat rescue took her in and then the same rescue that saved Winky saved her. We knew she was heartworm positive and so she went through tests to see how serious it was...it turned out it was extremely advanced. The worms had spread to most of her tiny organs and her liver was dysfunctional and producing large amounts of bile. As if that wasn't enough, x-rays indicated that there was a large pin in her leg (we can only assume it was set there to fix a broken leg) and it was actually protruding and poking her muscle tissue...I can't even imagine how painful it must have been. So, on the advice of the rescues vets, Pumkin was sent to the Bridge on June 17th, 2006. We only had the pleasure of fostering her for a few days before she was set free of the pain.

So, in her memory, we started up Pumkin's Promise, a fund for the medical treatment of rescued animals. Members here helped us start it up by voting for my three sweeties in a picture contest - we won the $500 prize and that was the initial donation into Pumkin's Promise. Since it was established in August, we have raised over $3000 for the veterinary care of animals.

So thank you to all who helped us with that. Here's my angel:



Okay, so I'm done for now ! Beautiful stories, everyone!

[sobreeze]

izzy is a boston terrier rescue her story started when she was raised in a puppy mill her only job to have lots of pups so miller could make more money izzy is a very small boston maybe 10 lbs well her first litter was a c section she spent all her days in a cage as many puppy mill breeders do not one to love or give them proper care well her 2nd litter was a bout to be born one more c section now she is only a little two years old at this time well izzy had 4 pups all dead something happened tp pups before being born as you night think breeder aka puppymiller was done with izzy she was turned over to a rescue this may be the only kind thing this breeder has ever done i seen her listed on rescue site i already had 8 dogs two bostons so i applied was oked for adoption went to meet izzy at her foster mom she was a very sweet girl but also very scared she was afraid of people but never bonded but wanted to be loved so bad she would not come to you would tack treats but from a distance you had to corner her to catch her to take outside would not let you pet her head it scared her and mill dogs are never potty trained they have learned to go where you are well its been a little over a month that we adopted izzy what a change in a dog she loves being petted all over even upside down in my arms to get tummy rubs love to cuddle, sleep with me snores in my ear run to me flys in my arms goes outside off leash comes when called runs and plays with toys other dogs and yes me even like to go for car rides loves going to grandmas to play with her dog the only thing we have a problem with is she thinks she can play with the phone and answer machine potty training is coming alone good she is a great girl every one meets her loves her we are so glad we brought izzy into our lives

[dollyknockers]

i have two three rescue stories the first is of my son juke who is now at rainbow bridge . 9 yrs ago i was told i wudn have children so after a lot of tears i decided to adopt a rescue dog . i phoned around a few centres until i found one in mid antrim ni . it was a heart wrenching story i was told of a couple who had a female boxer who had been mated by accident to an alsation the they were to give the pups into the shelter in stead they dumped them at the roadside and phoned the shelter as to were they could pick them up as they cudn be bothered to spend the petrol money on mongrels they didn want was what the lady at the shelter told me i went to a foster parents home and once i set eyes on my boy it was love the lady said he must see something in you as he is the little runt of the litter and wont go near anyone he usually just hides away i had juke for eight years until he passed away on 28th feb to terminal brain and spinal tumours . and i can say it was best petrol money i ever spent as he was a very special little man to all of us

[dollyknockers]

my second one is of trixie my parents chiunnah and jack russel cross she was about two years old when my dad picked her up of the street we knew the guy who owned her when my dad took her back to him he just said what the hell did you bring her back here for i threw her out cos she is in season and i dnt bloody want her my dad told him hw disgusting he thought he was and made him sign a peace of paper stating he no longer wants her we took her home washed and fed her nxt day dad took her for a check and jabs with vet and we had her 20 yrs until she passed away on 2nd jan 06

[dollyknockers]

my third is of my boxer lady the one above in photo my sister saw an ad in paper for her she wanted a companion dog for her boxer buster . the ad read 12wk old boxer for sale full papers and big strong healthy pup resale due to moving house we went to view her and guy kept giving us wrong directions so by time we finally got proper directions it was dark . when we arrived we were brought to a back garden were she was kept in a run if u could call it that she was standing in her own urine and faeces she was a nervous wreck and skin and bones , at first he said he bred her but her papers stated she was breed in belfast so when i asked cud i see the mother he just said does your sister want the mutt or not and my sister declined the offer to buy her my partner mark and i just looked at each other and said we will have her so we paid the money i told the bloke exactly what i thought of him and said i would be reporting him for cruelty
he just laughed and said who cares its only a mutt no use to anyone
so the next eve we took her to vet and asked about the shape of her jaw as it didn line up and also about the lump on her head he said leave her here tonite as she is badly dehydrated and ill xray her jaw and skull to our horror she had a broken jaw and a fracture to her skull . thankfully our lady bugs is now a very healthy happy girl and had a lovely litter of 12 beautiful babies the guy was prosecuted for his cruelty . and his fines cost him a great deal more than what he recieved for our beautiful little girl . dnt get me wrong i didn breed lady to make money that is not why i breed dogs i do for the love of the breed and to keep boxer lines pure my dogs come first in my life and they want for nothing . im very against cruelty and im involved in a lot of charity work against such cruel acts