Bless you for adopting this beautiful dog and giving him the love he needed. Shame on anyone who abuses animals - hopefully one day there will be proper laws everywhere that punish all those who do this. PLEASE take this as a helpful comment to all of you who play with your dogs with tennis balls... two things: often there is a dye on the balls that makes them yellow (or other colors) and this dye is toxic and comes off when the dogs have the balls in their mouths. Also... even worse, many people, including Oprah Winfrey have lost their dogs when they choked on a tennis ball - the dogs didn't mean to try to swallow it, it just happens when they are playing and it blocks the air waves. I wish you many happy healthy years with Esau and hope to have a Bermese myself one day (or another collie).