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Originally Posted by Canula2000  Just as a side note and for others reading this...IMO and being invovled in rescue work I wonder why someone would choose a dog that from the start you will have to work hard to get a dog to be fun. |
There are rescues/rescuers who "cherry pick" dogs they can easily place...nothing wrong with that...every life saved counts.
But I've pulled shy dogs, dogs hit by cars, geriatric dogs with massive testicular and mammary tumors, big, black and older mixed breed dogs (the kinds least likely to be adopted)...and they've all turned into great dogs...some I've kept, some have been adopted. I feel blessed to have had each in my life. And somehow I never viewed any of them as "work".
Recently I pulled three four month old rotti/shep pups from a high kill shelter...they were placed in a run at the shelter and simply left there...no walks, no socialization. The pups were frozen in terror when I went in to look at them...totally overwhelmed...but within an hour of being "sprung" from the shelter they were bouncing around my yard, being normal, happy pups....I feel EVERY dog (with the exception of one with aggression issues) deserves a chance...it's just sad that there are more dogs than chances.
I can sit and look at my crew and pretty much tick off which ones would never had made it out of the shelter except for my intervention...and somehow, these are the ones that are most tightly entwined around my heart.
Reno was two when I first saw him at the local shelter...he was cowering in the back of his run, expecting people to hurt him. He was so sick he had stopped eating, had never been in a car, was not housetrained...probably spent his life in someone's back yard. He has grown into my alpha male...and assumed the role of "mother hen" to my crew, including two five week old kittens I rescued. He made me fall in love with the breed.
Bailey was a five month old pup who was a stray hit by a car. He sat at a shelter for a month with a broken leg and pelvis. When we went to look at him, he limped out on three legs, laid his head in my husband's lap and cried. Bailey is my "lunatic"...who can jump three feet straight up in excitement and who nestles his head on the edge of the bed and stands transfixed as long as I am willing to pet him.
Kenya was a senior dog who's owner dumped her in a shelter after her pups died of parvo. Her teeth were worn down, she was arthritic...but her devotion to me is unquestioned. She is my Ever Ready bunny...she keeps going, and going, and going...and we have been blessed with her for five years now and hopefully several more!
Rocky is seven, large, black and mixed (rotti/shep)...the type of dog usually overlooked by rescue and adopters. But he is probably THE sweetest dog I've ever known. Maybe I just like to root for the underdog. How's the saying go? One man's trash is another's treasure.