Your Dog's Story?

[areias]

I was just interested to know everyone's dog's story. You know-how you got him/her. I'll start with my three.

Sam-We started looking for another dog about a month after our husky mix escaped the fence and got hit by a car. We looked at our local rescue's website, and saw what we thought was a short haired (he was brindle), maybe 45-50lb Greyhound/Shepherd mix, from the pics. Well we stopped by the shelter and asked to take a look at "Sam". They brought out an extremely hyper english springer spaniel named "Samantha"-they were surprised that we wanted to look at the other Sam. Well when he came out, he was a 95lb Akita/Shepherd mix with a pretty fuzzy coat. We adopted him right then and there. The story that came with him was that his owner had been arrested-and the landlord just opened the door and let him out into Worcester, MA (a very busy city in MA), and a friend picked him up and brought him into the shelter. He's very lucky he didnt get hit by a car, he's been such a great dog even 6 years later.

Casey-My poor little girl went through so much, just days after she was born. Her mom had given birth in a graveyard. Three days after, a cop approached the new mom, in which case Mom growled at him, and he promptly shot her dead. The three puppies were dropped off at a kill shelter, and were scheduled to be promptly euthanized. So the workers at the shelter smuggled them to a No-Kill shelter. A friend of my grandmothers took them into her home, and fed them every two hours with a syringe for the first couple weeks of their lives, and they became adoptable. At 6 1/2 weeks old, we were able to bring our little girl home. My aunt, who had recently lost her Golden Retriever puppy to a type of bloat, took one of the bigger boys. And my aunt's neighbor, wanted another dog to live with their elderly Golden, and for it to teach the puppy, so they took the third puppy, another boy. So all three littermates are in safe homes. :) My poor aunt though-both mine and her neighbors shepherds only grew to be about 70lbs, her puppy grew up to be at least 150lbs. He's a very big boy.

Boomer-We're not too sure about him. He was marked as a simple stray. I believe he was thrown into a backyard and kicked around by some kids. He was not housebroken at a year old. He does fine with our kids, but if their friends come around he spaces himself away. Shortly after we got him, we were holding him for a child to pet and he urinated all over the floor. We had our cousins come to visit-and this includes a boy of about 15yrs, and Boomer did not like him at all, he howled and carried on and barked and would run away howling if Randy came near him, so we believe he was probably abused at some point.

So those are my dogs stories. I'd love to hear everyone elses.

[jackie]

Tito was throw in a dumpster with his litter and we adopted him from the shelter at three weeks old.

Not too sure about Bella, we adopted her when she was about three or four years old. She has NO training whatsoever, and it took two months to stop her peeing and pooing on our bed (it was not a fun time).

Bo was dropped at the shelter because he didn't bark, and the previous owner wanted a guard dog. He wasn't house trained neither and pee'd submissively, but was a fast learner.

They all have improved so much in the short time we have had them!

[chocolatepuppy]

I got both of my dogs from a shelter when they were puppys. Lacey was there for a month :( and I know nothing about her. Mandy was there one day, she and her littermates were thrown into a dumpster :mad: and then rescued and taken to the shelter.

[LeahMM]

Dog #1- Niki female Border Collie. I had been searching rescue for months for a Border Collie when Niki showed up at our local Humane Society. She's a beautiful tri-colored girl that was an owner surrender. My husband and I rushed down there and adopted her on the spot. She had many issues in the beginning but with much training and love, she has turned out to be the best.


Dog #2- Bozy male Aussie. 3 months after getting Niki we decided that she needed a friend. I found Bozy on Petfinder and we took Niki to meet him. They hit it off well so we adopted him. He too had issues but as with Niki, training and love has brought him a long way.


Dog #3- Cody female Aussie. Cody was a product of me having the I wants for a puppy so I bought her. It was a huge mistake but I have come to terms with it and learned my lesson. She is loved just as much of the rest even if she is a BYB dog.


Dog #4- Buddy male Border Collie. After I started volunteering with the SPDR there was a plea posted on the database to save this poor boy from certain death in a shelter in Eastern WA. I bucked up and said I would take him. Five days later a very nice person brought Buddy to his forever home.

[tricollie4me]

Bijou -- After 15-1/2 years of marriage, five kids, two parakeets (who have since passed away -- sweet, funny little birds who gave us lots of nice memories) and a cat, we decided it was time for a dog. Tried to adopt through one shelter...didn't work out (the pups founds homes before we could meet them). Tried to adopt through another shelter, and before they could contact us back, we made a call to a different rescue two hours away about a little rough collie pup. Drove in torrential rain to an obscure little town where we found a rural farm out of which this particular family ran their rescue...Bijou was one of at least 20 dogs, several cows, horses, goats, ducks and cats held in a large barn. She ran out of the kennel gate, swirled around my legs in a frenzy and ran out onto the icy driveway. I thought I must be out of my mind to adopt such a nutty pup, then promptly did so.

She's so loveable and she's definitely the dog we needed to adopt! We're almost at her first birthday (11/1) and a few months from her first Gotcha Day (2/16).

[LeahMM]

Your Collie is beautiful.

[Roxyluvsme13]

Roxy-We went to our local shelter, and looked at a yorkie, and decided to adopt him, but there was a slight chance his owner would come back. We looked at all the other dogs, too and Roxy was there, and I thought she was quite cute. We came back to get the yorkie, and his owner had come back, so we looked for another dog. There was Roxy...My mom says Do you want to get Roxy and I say YES!! Roxy was on her final day before she would be euthanized, and her life was saved by me :).
Tinkerbell-We found Tink in the local trading post. It was a BIG mistake to go where we did, and get her, because it was a puppy mill, but I'm glad we did. We fell in love with her instantly. I'm sure if it wasn't for us, that Tink surely would have died...:(
Those Are My Dog's Stories! :)

[Flatcoatluver]

Lets see i don't have any tear jerking story's about my dogs, like all of yours!
t.j and zoey were both got from breeders and all of my other dogs were. where now thinking about adopting a purebred that was kept on a chain and wasn't touch all of her life and only got fed 3 times a week

[pitc9]

Sierra - is my 4 year old female German Shepherd (some say she looks like she could have a little bit of wolf in her) I found her on PetFinder. She was picked up as a stray at 6 months old, and taken to a kill shelter. She was set to be put to sleep because she snapped at the dog warden that picked her up. A GSD rescue got her from the shelter, posted her on PetFinder and she's been my little spoiled princess ever since!

Buddy - is my 3 1/2 year old male GSD, he was dumped in the woods and was living in an abandoned barn when a local kill shelter picked him up. It took them a week to catch him, they kept setting traps and he kept getting out of them. Once they finally caught him, they realized that he had been living in the barn for a few months. He was terrified of everyone and everything. They couldn't leave him in a cage where the rest of the dogs were because he would freak out so wildly. So they turned a small office into his own room. He wouldn't look at people, and would just cower in the corner when people approached him. A guy at the shelter (Doug) spent tons of time with him, & he was the only person he would trust. The shelter had him listed on PetFinder, so I went to the shelter and the people looked at me like I was nuts when I said I wanted to see "Barry". After spending an hour on the floor of his "room" I finally got one tiny kiss on the hand, and took him out to go potty and I got the first tail wag out of him!! We were ready to leave and when we were out in the parking lot he slipped out of his collar and took off into the woods. :eek: :( :eek: :(
I ran back into the shelter and yelled for Doug, he promptly took off into the woods and after 45 minuets came back with Buddy in HIS ARMS!!! (Buddy was 78 lbs at the time!! :eek: ) I was so afraid they weren't going to let me take him home because I had let him escape, but Doug put Buddy into my car and home we went! It's been 2 1/2 years and Buddy still has issues; being overly protective of his yard, not liking my husband :o , being deathly terrified of thunder, fireworks... etc. His high intensity scares most people, I've had dog behaviorists to see him, and they think that someone had started to train him for Schutzhund or some sort of personal protection but he was not aggressive enough so they were abusing him to try to make him aggressive, it wasn't working so they dumped him in the woods. :( And now he's my "nut case" for EVER!! I couldn't live a day without him!!

[new mom to a veiled]

My in-laws have been breeding boxers for 20 years (members of CKC etc.) and have been showing for just about as long. My dog was sold as a puppy to a single mom for her 2 kids. She later got an abusive boyfriend :eek: When the dog would try to protect her the boyfriend would hit them both :mad: :mad: My in-laws heard about this and took the woman her 2 kids and the dog to thier home. She later move to an apartment in the city, and my in-laws would let the dog go. Boxers are very high energy dogs. He has an acre of fenced yard here. He still has some issues, he is very jumpy, if somethings falls he is like a cat on a hot tin roof. He is scared of the strangest things ie 8 week old kitten :confused: The important thing is he has family who loves him. :)

[cali]

Happy I got after looking for a dog of my own, the first place we looked was the shelter, and I just about adopted a GSP but he got adopted before I made it back to the shelter that day, one day while I was at school my mom went to western feeds and found an ad for border collie pups, she checked out the website and my mom and dad both fell in love with the picture of Happy, that night after dancing we went to the breeders and home came Happy.

Misty came from a breeder who also placed an ad at western feeds(its a farm store, everyone advertises theire BC litters there) we called and once we were finally able to secure a time that we would be able to get out there and they would actually be home lol we made it out and went looking for a male, and ended up placing a deposit on a split faced female, who we picked up on christmas eve(Misty was a christmas gift)

the rest I will share after work lol

[cyber-sibes]

Wow, alot of these stories are really touching! What great hearts people have here on PT!
Star- we decided to get a husky (I always wanted one) I found her in the newspaper. I guess you could say the guy was a backyard breeder. Star's mom was only 8 or 9 months old herself, but both parents were AKC registered and had come from a responsible breeder. This guy was just getting his kennel set up. He let us take Star then and there, at only 5 weeks old (I have since learned why this is a bad idea!) While I never saw the breeder again, I did meet other dogs from there years later, so I guess he cleaned up his act.

Rosie, my next puppy, came from a shelter. She was irresistable! She was there with her 5 siblings, during Feb. The shelter was full of unsold "Christmas puppies", heart-breaking. Wish I could have taken them all!

Sherman - after Rosie died, I looked on petfinder, in husky rescue, all over for another husky. I found Sherman through doing a google siberian breeder search. He and his littermates could not be shown or bred due to a genetic flaw, juvenile cataracts, that they developed. I did alot of research to find out about this condition and what we could be getting into. We drove for 4 hours to meet him, he and Star along beautifully. Then it was another month before they came up to inspect our home and let us adopt Sherman. He was worth all the effort!

[Thandi]

What a lovely lunchhour read!

MIKA: 3 weeks after my wonderful Rhodie died, I couldn't survive without a dog and started looking for something that vaguely resembled a Rhodie. I kept coming back to this picture of Mika at a shelter about 30 miles away. She was given up by her previous owner as they were getting divorced and he "couldn't be bothered with a dog". She had basically been ignored all her life and had serious issues with some men (would attack them) and still, if I raise my hand, she cowers. We've had her a year this month, and everyone says she's the best dog ever. My children finally have a dog they can play with (they are 20 & 18, and my rhodie did not like them!)

CHLOE: Mika had so much energy I felt I needed to get a friend. Went to the same shelter because I'd seen a terrier that looked perfect. Mika hated the terrier, but then Chloe walked past and I asked to try them out. They pretty much ignored each other at first, but Chloe was so sweet and soft I couldn't resist. She's been with us about 2 months now, and is Mika's best friend ever. They never stop playing or chewing on each other. Chloe lived on the street most of her life, and cowers at the slightest move/noise, but she's getting better. Lots of training still ahead and my biggest fear is her escaping, because she totally ignores it when we call her, even at the dog park.

The cats absolutely adore the dogs!

[cali]

ok now for the other 4

Shadow my old naighbores found wandering the ally at only a few weeks old,while everyone in my family exept my dad was on vacation in kelowna, she was far to small for them to keep(they had 20 cats and 8 large dog) so knowing that we had thought about a dog they gave her to my dad, a few days later we recieve a letter from my dad containing pictures of the new pup her name, her story, and the doghouse he had built her, he had taken her around trying to find her original owner with no luck, and so we had a dog! lol Shadow is now 9 years old, and while no lonmger living with me I get to see her all the time and I recieve daily updates ;)

Perky had been through so many homes, she had been in the shelter at least 3 times everytime she was adopted she would be found a few days later wandering the streets, everyone said she kept running away, this I really cant imagine, she wont leave our sides and wehn she does get out of the yard she just sits in the driveway and waits for someone to notice lol Perky has since grown into the first freestyle dog in the provance to recieve a title, and also placed 3rd in her first ever compition. that dog is incredably smart lol

Ripley had been a petstore pup orginally when he was 4 months old his owner fell ill and he asked his naighbores to take care of him, but when he got better Ripley was not wanted anymore, and the naighbors did not want him so he was dumped at the shelter, an there he was adopted by us, he is now a flyball master champion, and everyone at the dogpark looks at him in amazment when they watch him easily overtake their larger dogs that were built to run lol

Blair came from Happys breeder, he had a million faults and health issues as a pup ad the breeder did not want to send him to the US as an example of what she breeds, so he was placed with us as we are a preformance home and she felt he would benifet from the raw diet we feed.

[jennifert9]

Well, I think I posted Duncan's story somewhere once before but I'll give a quick synopsis here...
I went to the local shelter to see another dog that I had found on their website. Unfortunately that dog and I just didn't hit it off...I was walking around looking at all the animals and there, in the very last cage in the very last aisle, was this large black and tan dog...The first thing I noticed about him was that when he wagged his tail, it wagged in a big circle..:D I sat down right there next to him and he stuck his nose out between the bars and I put my face next to his. It took 2 weeks before the shelter would agree to let me adopt him (They are very strict, I had a very small yard and didn't pass the "yard test." I told them I would walk him everyday and that I would come back every single day until they changed their minds) And I did!! :D ;)
Duncan and I still do that face thing where he puts his nose next to my face and we sit that way and cuddle. I think it makes him feel secure and I just love to be close to him.
So that's my story in a nutshell...I think I also posted a pic some time ago of when the vet's office brought him out to me on day one (he had to be neutered before I could bring him home so I picked him up at their office) It's one of my favorite pictures, I have a huge grin on my face and his tail is wagging so fast it's just a blur in the picture :D:D

[Rie Rie]

Our dog came to us in Feb. of 99. He'd been hanging out in the neighborhood behind us, not sure how long he'd been there. One day the some kids, my son included, were playing at one of the houses where a little girl had a rabbit and decided to see what would happen if she let the rabbit out with the dog there. This girl was about 4 years old, so she had no clue about dogs and rabbits. Anyway, I was in my kitchen and heard screaming and then saw kids and an adult woman run by. So I go out to see what all the screaming is about and the lady proceeds to scream at me about how to stop my f***ing dog. Well to start with the dog isn't mine and you're not going to catch him running and screaming. At the time I didn't know the dog had the rabbit in it's mouth. The dog finally let the rabbit go, but of course the rabbit was dead by then. Another neighbor comes to help this lady take the dog away by tieing a rope around it's neck and draggging it. All the kids were screaming and crying,because lady is talking about how she's going to kill the dog. I called the police to see if she could just drag the dog from my yard like that. They come out and talk to me and I tell them the dog isn't mine but am considering keeping him, and that it had been hanging out back there in that lady's neighborhood. They go back there and talk to her and come back and bring me the dog and then tell me I have to pay for the rabbit, which really chapped my butt. Anyway, I called a pet store to find out how much one a dwarf rabbit cost and write out check along with a letter telling this lady that Idid not appreciate the way she handled the situation. She came to my house and apologized for upsetting the kids. So, this how we adopted our Sparky and he's been a great dog and we love him dearly. Note, by this time we'd been here for almost ten years and had dogs dropped off and even had puppies put on my back door step and hubby wouldn't let us keep any of them. But something about this one stole his heart Sparky adores him.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid157/p62e507be461424800af02eb42cda500b/f52ec937.jpg

[4theloveofzoe]

Well... lol...

Our family had been looking for a pup/dog for about three weeks. I kept doing searches on petfinder.com, until I saw this cute little pup's adorable face. I thought "she's cute", so I emailed the animal shelter and asked more questions about her and filled out an application. Meanwhile... I did searches for other nearby dog pounds and fell in love with another dog, that was unadoptable and was being put to sleep, it was being put to sleep because it bit a 3 year old. :(
I emailed and called another shelter and asked about a shetland sheepdog. That dog wasn't ready to go.

Tuesday morning (10/11) I heard from the shelter where Zoe was at, and she said that I'd been approved. She asked if I was still interested in Zoe and I said "YES!" The kids and I went up there and saw her. For me it was love at first site. However, my XSIL, who drove up there with us, had other plans. She had me look at a beautiful male black lab puppy. I saw all of the unwanted dogs and I couldn't take it. I almost started crying, so I went back inside and signed papers on Zoe.

[cyber-sibes]

Rie Rie - what a story! :eek: Sparky looks like a wonderful dog, good thing you were there for him!