Rosana,

I am scared for his highness Rex and for you. "Mr. Last Owner/Drug guy" sounds like a total jerk who could be dangerous!

I do not know the laws of Switzerland re: dog possession, and I imagine those laws/rules would be critical to your situation.

I had an twinge that Mr.Last owner might be trouble for you when he offered to give you the dog and then was complaining about the price of dog food. It sounded to me like he was hitting you up for money because he knew you liked the dog and I remember when you said you'd help pay for the dog food that he bought. This whole notion kind of struck me as troublesome when you posted that awhile ago; but I assumed I was just being negative or overly suspicious of this guy. But what you say now makes me think my intuition on this man was correct. Maybe Mr. Last Owner thinks you are an easy target to get more money out of you because maybe he intends to blackmail you for the Rex?

Do you have available in your community free legal counseling services? Or, can you afford to hire a lawyer or advocate for advice on this situation? If so, I'd call one today or tomorrow or Monday to get someone on your side to go up against Mr. Last owner. Or, is there an animal protection /animal welfare agency in your area that you can contact for help?

In the US, possesion really counts. You now have the dog. If it is registered to onwer #1 in switzerland's books, it sounds to me like Mr.Last owner has no legal say in this matter. Again, I'm in the US and aren't sure of Swiss law. Do not voluntarily give this dog back to Mr. Last owner and relinquish possesion. If he makes any threats or insists that you give him money or return the dog, if you able to file a police complaint against him, do it.

It seems if you have a written receipt showing he gave you the dog before a witness, that he doesn't have much legal grounds to try to get Rex back.

Are there swiss laws against tape recording conversations. If you run into this jerk again, is there a law against you having a tape recorder hidden so you can record any threats, any comments, or conversation?

Whatever you do, please be careful. If the guy is shady and involved in selling/consuming drugs, then he could be not right in the head and could be dangerous to you and Rex. If you get a lawyer or legal advocate involved, perhaps they can scare the guy off by threatening to prosecute the guy for giving the dog drugs. If Mr. Last owner sees that giving you a hard time about Rex means that he might land himself in jail or have the authorities breathing down his neck for his drug involvement, maybe this jerk will back off. You need some legal protection to pursue this avenue because it wouldn't benefit you to threaten this jerk because what if he tries to physically hurt you? I hope you will please get help with this to protect yourself and Rex.

A private detective may be able to track down the 1st owner/abandoner who may be willing to sign a receipt relinquishing the dog to you. Would you be willing to get a detective for this and is that type of thing expensive in Switzerland?

Also, you might be able to prove that Mr. Last Owner gave the dog illegal drugs if you contact a vet immediately As Soon As Possible like today or Monday. Assuming it isn't too expensive, ask the vet if he/she can perform a toxicology screen on Rex's blood urine. If marijuanna, cocaine, or other things are present, a vet test serve as proof for you to be used against Mr. Last Owner to make him go away. I have heard that in humans, there is some type of hair strand test that can show if marijuanna has been within the system for something like the past month or two. I'd imagine that there is sometype of similar test that could be used on a dog by the vet taking a strand of Rex's fur from the root and testing it. Maybe if you explain the situation to the vet about Rex's abusive past, maybe the vet would be compassionate and cut you a price break on any such testing or do it for actual cost without a markup because if you keep Rex, he'll have a good customer over the years with you taking Rex to him for all his veterinary needs.

Maybe Mr. Last Owner is hassling you in an attempt to extort or get money out of you? Maybe he is doing it to see that if you fall for Rex and get attached, that maybe you will give him money if he threatens you or messes with your head by claiming he'll take Rex away otherwise. This situation could become dangerous if Mr Last owner is the violent type and that makes me worried about you Rosana.

I sincerely suggest you get any legal or animal welfare protection help with this situation immediately. Are there any message board members on this site who can help Rosana with legal tips specific to Swizerland?

Let me know if any of these ideas make sense.

Glad Rex is doing better on leash. Maybe those first incidents of growling aggression were because he felt he needed to be Alpha (since you were his brand new oner and wasn't firmly established in his mind as Alpha). Maybe Rex was driving off those dogs to protect you. And you giving the toy and giving commands is showing him you are in charge of the situation (therefore being Alpha) so he can relax and not have to drive off other people's dogs with the aggressive barking and posturing?

Glad also that he knows basic commands like sit and others. At least one of those two previous owners did some basic work with him. But geez, the way these two handled this poor dog makes me furious and sick to my stomach.

I am praying for you and Rex.


Best regards,
Anna Lisa

PS: Tesoro is still in remission. The vet check on Wed showed no signs that the cancer is coming back. I guess I over-reacted when I heard him cough those couple of times and assumed the worst. So it is good news.