Your Dog's Story?

[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.
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!! ) 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 , 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 When the dog would try to protect her the boyfriend would hit them both 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 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.. 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!!
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