« Previous Huge Rat | Goggie ob teh Week: First Place Comin’ Up! Next »
Saving just one dog won’t change the world, but surely it will change the world for that one dog.
O hai, hotdogs! We wantz 2 noez hao ur goggie (or goggies!) joyned ur familee. Did ur goggie juss show upz wun dai? Or did you adopt ur goggie frum a sheltur? Did ur goggie save u frum a bad tiem in ur lyf? Share ur storees ob lurve, adoptshun and happiness in da comments!!
Submitted by: Unknown
Picture by: Heart Dog Studios
 | danielwalldammit on Thikin 2 hard |
| danielwalldammit on Cyoot Puppy ob teh Day: So… |
 | D-R on Cyoot Puppy ob teh Day: So… |
 | Turtle on Stickin 2 mai story… |
 | Mari on Too Cute Too Resist |
 | Dee on Goggie ob teh Week: Three Old… |
 | Hello on Stickin 2 mai story… |
 | epicmike on Awkward… |
 | danjo on Awkward… |
| danielwalldammit on Awkward… |
| danielwalldammit on Never Going Back |
 | Amelia on Awkward… |
 | david on derp |
| david on derp |
 | Jason on Cyoot Puppy ob teh Day: So… |
Cheezburger Company Blog
I Can Has Cheezburger? - Lolcats n Funny Pictures 
Lolcats - Lolcats n' Funny Cat Pictures
Animal Capshunz - All of the Internet's Animals. Captioned
Animal Videos - Cute and Hilarious Animal Videos
Animal Gifs - Cute and Hilarious Animal Gifs
Daily Squee - So cute your brain might explode. 
Historic LOLs - Captioned Portraits of Yore
My Food Looks Funny - Funny Food Photos
So Much Pun - Visual Puns and Jokes
ROFLrazzi - Lol Celebs and All That's Fab Funny in Showbiz 
Totally Looks Like - Stuff That Looks Like Other Stuff
Must Have Cute - See. Want. Must Have!
If Style Could Kill - OMG Style!
Pundit Kitchen - Lol News and Lol Politics Fun 
Lovely Listing - Strange Findings in Real Estate Listings
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-94wNw88f65Rhk.gif?labels=MTVN%20Digital%20Tribes\")
My dog Jenks showed up as a starving tiny puppy on my front porch in one of the worst snowstorms we’d had in years. My husband went outside, and there was this pitiful tiny puppy – all his bones showing; and the best/worst puppy-dog eyes ever.
We had never planned on getting a dog – our 2 cats were enough, but we couldn’t resist this guy. We took him to the shelter (in case someone was looking for him), but no one claimed him, so he became ours.
I’ve never seen another dog in our town that looks anything like him, and he has some strange mannerisms, so I’ve always thought he was probably from a feral litter.
He took about a year to bond with us, but now he’s 2, happy and healthy. We weren’t looking for a dog, but hes definitely added to our pile of good things in life.
Sounds like he did change the world. Yours!
We always adopt from the local Humane Society. Two dogs and three cats so far! Shelter pets know they’ve been rescued and give you all kinds of lovin’ in return.
My family adopted our 5 year old female Shar-Pei Bailey from the North Texas Shar Pei rescue. She was abused early in her life, and she came to us very shy and timid. She was scared of just about everything. We spent a lot of time working patiently with her, and now she is confident, loving, and loves long walks, and naps in the sun! We love her like Maru loves boxes lol. She is the best!
my doggie is a chihuahua Pomeranian mix. cute as a button. he came to me as a birthday gift for my boyfriends sister. needless to say things happened and she couldnt keep him. his parents were really trying to find him another home and i in good conscience couldnt let this lil boy go to his FOURTH home. we took him in and hes been my lil boubers ever since. best decision i ever made. he is the light at the end of the tunnel everyday i come home from work
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/430517_357809467573721_100000340134106_1262718_440970309_n.jpg
We have two dogs. Our Siberian husky, Zero, used to belong to my sister-in-law, who found her as a stray puppy and couldn’t keep her when she moved from a house to an apartment with no yard. About a year ago, we adopted Boomer, an Australian cattle dog, from our local SPCA. She had been picked up as a stray too. She was sad and timid and skinny when we got her, but now she’s happy and healthy! I was sick with a cold this weekend and she stuck close by me. Every time I would cough, she would reach over and put her paw on me. Zero slept by my feet most of the time. We love our carpet-wrecking shedding machines, and we’re so glad we could give them better lives.
All of these lovely stories of doggies and humans finding happiness together! So wonderful!
Our story begins with a fire that killed my beautiful dog, cat, and kitten. I was in shock. Then I learned of a wonderful 5 month old Pyrenees mix who’d been abused and abandoned. He couldn’t have come into my life at a better time. I needed to stay busy to avoid thinking about the tragedy, and he needed patience, care, and love.
Now he’s happy, healthy, and so much fun! I’ll always be grateful for him.
Oh I am so sorry! Our pets are our children, as are yours, I am sending you prayers and good thoughts! God bless your pyrenees, you helped each other!
Sparky is a min-pin mix. He was born with three legs, his one front leg needed surgery to put in a steel rod, as he was missing a couple of bones. Fortunately he got rescued by Maumee Valley Save-a-pet which was able to get a fund to pay for his surgery. Still, it took until he was over four before I came across him (having just bought a house) and was able to bring him home. I board him with his foster mom, and there we came across a chihuahua Maggie. They became great friends, so I had to bring her home too. Sadly, she passed away last month. After a week, Sparky needed a new companion. So we went down to the pound to meet Susan, a long haired chihuahua (who was very scared at the pound.) They got along so she’s come home three weeks ago, and has settled in nicely.
We did the same, we had a neo mastiff who was hit by a car, and our rat terrier mourned him and quit eating – so we adopted two puppies from the pound and she became ‘mama’ and all are happy now.
I have 4 rescue dogs and one “bought” dog. However, Jake’s story is the saddest that became the happiest. I found him one day behind a restaurant. He had been hit by a car and his right rear leg was shattered. He was skin and bones. I bought him lunch and left food out for the next 2 weeks even though I did not see him. A friend gave me antibiotics to put in the food to help fight the infection. He gained weight and became a little less frightened. It took me 4 months to catch him (with the help of the city animal control) and his leg was removed for a reduced cost by my vet. Found out later his other leg had been broken in 2 places and yet he survived. He was here a half hour and my husband said” he isn’t going up for adoption”. So we now have the worlds happiest 3 legged dude dog….JAKE!
My first doggie was abandoned, quite nonchalantly, in our street. Like a car dropping off an hitchhiker or something. We fell in love with him and had eleven wonderful years together. He was all about thankfulness and love, and he’s got quite the special spot in my heart. :’)
Our current puppy has a similar sad story. She was adopted from a pound, but her family moved to Spain and decided to leave her behind. She’s been with us for three months now.
My two cats had similar stories. My first came from a litter an abandoned cat had, my second from the local pound where she was.
I feel pretty conflicted telling these stories. On the one hand I get really angry that these a**holes abandoned their pets, but on the other hand, they became my beloved babies because those a**holes decided to abandon them in the first place. You know?
I agree, I am so angry at so many people!!!
Our dog Emma walked up onto our porch when we were outside one summer evening. She was starved with all her bones showing, but sat and wagged her tail when we gave her some lunch meat and took it so gently. Then she stared in our front window like she was ready to go inside.
That was about five years ago and we couldn’t be happier. Not long after she found us some family trouble hit, but she was always there to make us feel better.
My husband and i went into town one day to see a movie (inglorious bastards, i’ll never forget!) and we were two hours early. he liked to take me to the local petsmart on the weekends to look at the dogs up for adoption but we were going to be moving in two months so we really weren’t looking for another pet (we had one dog and two cats already).
i walked up to see all the dogs in their pens, barking and yipping away in the lower alabama heat…except one. there was this scraggly looking blonde dog, just chillin’ in her crate, looking like she would rather be ANYWHERE else. i turned to my husband and asked, “can i give her a hug?”
he knew he was doomed.
the adoption worker took her out of the crate and that skinny looking blonde heart thief went right up to me and bumped her head into my knees when i knelt down to hug her.
We took her home that day and in a weeks time with good food and love she has turned into a beautiful Chow/Retriever cross named Lily. and she is so very much her daddy’s dog.
18 years ago I adopted a 3 month old Akita mix and a 7 month old terrier mix from my local Humane Society. Many years later, a 3 month old hound/shepherd mix followed them home from a walk. I put up posters around the neighborhood and the local elementary school and put up a notice at the animal shelter, but no one claimed her. She was a brilliant, goofy creature who passed away about 2 years ago from cancer at the age of 7. My other 2 love bugs passed away about a year ago.
My only dog came from our local shelter when I was a kid. He was two at the time and his first family had to give him up because their daughter developed severe allergies. For his first few weeks with us, he was listless and quiet. The vet said he was “grieving” for the loss of his old family, but that he’d come around eventually. The vet was right – KaCee was with our family for many years afterward.
Since I’ve been grown, I’ve only had cats. I’ve never lived in a house with a fenced yard and I’m not the sort to go out regardless of weather to take a dog to do his “business.” But I do like dogs and hope to have another one (or more) some day.
Molly the rat terrier was dumped and walked into our house like she owned us, so we kept her. She is alpha. Kiska the pit mix was found on the side of the road waiting for the people who dumped her to come back for her, so we adopted her and she is now a goofy wiggling happy girl. Ben and Jerry are shepherd mix brothers we saved from a kill shelter. Attu came to the field behind us with the men who baled the hay, but he decided he liked us better so he stayed. Bella the Old English Sheepdog just appeared one day, skinny and matted. When they groomed her they found a fish hook tangled up in her fur. She is a little co-dependent but she is on her way to becoming a therapy dog for our school system. Maggie is a full blood black lab who was dumped on a friend’s property, and we fostered her, but kept her. She is goofy and smart. We have two kittens who were dumped on us, one ginger tabby is feral and one grey tortie is friendly. They live in the barn. I also have five hermit crabs in my classroom, some were rescued, two were bought at petsmart. I also just adopted two rats for my classroom, from a collegue who had to move to an apartment. Lily is black and Luna, her daughter, is white. Yes, I know. I need to stop.
Lol, thanks, heh. (I don’t want to go somewhere that will make people on this website uncomfortable but) we have always believed God gives us our pets. We have lots of land for them to run on and cows in the next pasture to chase and most of them sleep on the bed with us. We don’t have human children, and we are both gainfully employed so we can take good care of them and get them vet help when it’s needed. They are what makes my life so happy and silly and fun.
There is a special power that brings these wonderful animals into our lives -if only to show us what compassion and unconditional love are all about!
I assume it’s the dogs and not the cows who share your bed LOL
Heh, yes, just the dogs. They are terrible bedmates, one kicks me all night and two sleep directly between my husband and I! Yes, the unconditional love is what gets me. How an abused dog has every right to try to tear apart all humans but he just looks at you all trusting and sweet…it’s simply amazing to me and very humbling. I can’t imagine not having them, and I can’t imagine how anyone could hate dogs/animals.
My dog Meadow is a total sweetheart, a terrier mutt on the large side.She was adopted by an 87 year old lady from our local shelter. her owner started showing signs of dementia within months and could not keep her. So I stepped in and brought her home. It was the best choice ever! she is sweet and funny and gentle with my 90 year old father. It had been 5 years since my beagle had passed away and I will never go that long with out a dog again. I will always choose to save a life. the only things meadow has to leave behind when she passes is my love and a home. I will make sure that both are full of love for all my days.
My sister and I were thinking about adopting a dog, and we decided to go to a dog adoption fair on January 21, 2012. One day before that, my family and I went to a shopping mall to buy my dad a birthday present (January 20 is my father’s birthday), and suddenly, out of nowhere, this very, very, very skinny poodle appears in front of me – he was just skin and bones with no coat at all – at the parking lot and I said: “Hey little guy! what are you doing here, sweetie?” he jump on my legs and I started to cry because of his health conditions… Then, my mom and my sister started to cry too, and we’ve decided: “That’s our dog!” We took him, bathe him, feed him…
And today, exacly one month later, we are “sharing custody” of Dominico, a.k.a. Nico (he has two homes now!); he is a happy “almost chubby” loving dog, losing his fear of men; he loves to play catch with his chewing bone and loves to be around those who love him!
My lovely furry friend, Samson, was curled up in a ball on the outside of our back fence touching fur with our giant black lab, Baby. He was still there a few hours later so we figured he was a dump and decided to give him some water and little food. We placed an ad locally for a found dog. No one responded and we decided to keep him. About a year later, Baby passed away but having Samson helped all of us through it. Now, we have a big, hairy bum living with us who really likes Dentasticks.
Some blankety blank left a 4 week old lab puppy in a garbage bag on the side of the road in 100+ heat. A friend of ours rescued her, and asked us to keep her (after we’d come over and played with her, of course). Almost four years, one episode of Parvo, one laptop cord and three pairs of shoes later, Nubia is still our spoiled rotten brat.
Awwww. I’ve enjoyed all your stories. You are all wonderful hoomans and you each get 1 million internets each for your bein a puddle o love!
We got Ingrid from ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation). The animals are put in foster homes and you can set up an appointment to meet the animal of your choosing. I really liked this whole process because you save two lives, the animal you’re adopting and the animal that is going to the foster home. <3
i’m Ada, a three legged rescue dog in PA who blogs. here’s a link to my facebook album:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=335329859843693&l=e9503ed36d
and my blog is at adamaecompton.wordpress.com.
here is an excerpt of my story:
My name is Ada– short for Americans with Disabilities Act. I was adopted from the vet’s office after I was abandoned by some guy who works in the natural gas industry. So the story goes: I was brought to PA from TX and left here when he went back to TX. After I became a stray and was hit in the road, someone dropped me off at the vet.
The vet saved me by amputating one of my front legs. A month later, I was adopted by my new master and he gave me my name. He lets me blog, but moans about using too much bandwidth, whatever that is.
precious!
Three years ago I lost my two beloved rescue doggies within 3 months of each other.Betsy was 17 and Robbie was 12. I was devastated and vowed to wait for at least 6 months before thinking of another dog. A friend convinced me to go with him to our local shelter where he volunteers and walk dogs with him. Can you see where this is going? A month later Hobbs, a hound husky mix, came home with me. Mickey the cat welcomed him and they became friends. I started volunteering weekly at the shelter and four months later Lucy, a chocolate lab mix, joined our family. Even though both dogs had been found running wild in the country, they settled into house dog life easily and love their big backyard. Rescue dogs do realize they’re being given a chance for a better life. But the love they return is a far bigger gift!.
My parents’ dog, a beagle named Buster Brown, was a “save from going to the shelter” almost 9 years ago; a family friend was giving up on him, for not getting a long with her other dogs. We have a feeling he was abused by her husband, as he was incredibly shy, and would flinch if you lifted your hand over his head, or raised your voice. Today, he’s a chubby couch potato who adores being the “baby”. He was recently diagnosed with catarachs, and has gone mostly blind, but it’s yet to affect his life. (He constantly forgets he can’t see much anymore, and still acts very much the same.)
My finacee and I have our own fur-baby, a 2yo German Shepard/Corgi mix (according to the shelter). We got her at 9mo; the shelter told us it was her second time being there in her short life; that time, her family was moving and couldn’t take her with. One look in her big, bright eyes, and I was a goner. We hadn’t been looking to adopt that night, but she just stole our hearts. <3 We took her home the next morning; she is now very much a "mommy's girl", and loves going on runs, and playing tug-o-war, and cuddling up on the bed by my feet.
My dog Gypsy was one of three puppies that was rejected by her mother. She was in the kennel with her two sisters, one of whom kept chomping on her ear. Because she was half husky she has blue eyes. My mom and sister and I fell in love with her immediately and took her home that day. Her first night with us my mom, sister, and I went swimming in our pool. She stood outside the pool and starting howling very sadly. She could not be comforted; even after my dad picked her up she kept howling. She’s been howling at us ever since.
My wife and I picked our dog, Bullwinkle (he’s a mutt, best breed EVER), from a guy I knew. His dog had a litter of 15, we went over and ended up coming home with the one that was sucking on my wife’s thumb. 6 years and about 120 pounds later, we have one of the sweetest dogs on the planet.
I have heard so many stories of animals abandoned because they turn out to be not right for the family. I did my homework. This was my first goggie, and I knew exactly the right breed for me was a border collie. My goggie came from a carefully chosen breeder.
I’ve had cats my whole life. My current cat Oscar was a stray. Annie and I adopted him. They sleep on the couch together, and play and even eat together.
I couldn’t be without either of them.
I am all in favour of carefully choosing the right breed for you in the first place – it lessens the number of unwanted pets. I am also highly in favour of adopting an unfortunate, if you have enough love to give.
Both Annie and Oscar sleep on my bed, and are at the front window to forlornly see me off to work each day. Awwwww. Little heartbreakers!
I’m glad that a Border Collie was right for your family. They are one of those breeds that people often find don’t work out. They are wicked smart and get in trouble when they get bored. My parents have been foster parents for Border Collie Rescue for several years. Their current dog is one of the fosters that they rehabbed and sent out to a new home, but got returned because of behavior issues mostly related to separation anxiety. She is doing very well now.
Yeah a bit of separation anxiety – seeing me off at the front window, but excitedly jumps up all licky and waggy when I get home – and oooh do I make a fuss of her or what!
I think it’s a shame when people choose the wrong dog. And it’s harder for the dog than it is for the family.
Imagine if the dogs could choose their own family.
My sister has a pit bull named Easter. She found her as a puppy in the middle of a busy road on Easter day while coming home from work (hence the name). She was sitting like a small person wondering where her people were (my sister’s words). So my sister picked her up. Being a big puppy, my sister thought she was a grown dog. We all laugh at her still. Now a 57lb two-years-old, she has destroyed toys, comforters, blankets, her dog bed, and a pillow. She’s the nicest dog and thinks she’s hooman.
I had bought a rat terrier named Mickey and he was hit by a car and after four days a kind individual returned him to me so I could bury him. A few months later my son and I went to a shelter and saw a little dog in a cage with four other dogs, all larger than he was. When he got attacked for trying to get a bite to eat, I decided that he needed to have a home. I learned (while we were doing the paperwork) that he had been there for over a month and that nobody had even really looked at him in a few weeks…he was only days from being put to sleep. Patch and I now do so much together and I don’t think I could ever trade him for anything. He really is like my other son.
P.S. In recent times the shelter Patch came from has been closed after an investigation that showed that the dogs were being euthanized incorrectly and that it was a horribly painful process.
My chihuahua/terrier mix was adopted and returned twice for “behavioral problems” before landing in a no-kill shelter not far from my apartment. My roommate and I decided to take a chance on him. What two previous owners had thought was stubbornness and ignoring commands actually turned out to be puppyhood, and congenital deafness. In the two years we’ve had him, he’s grown up, doubled in weight, and learned a half-dozen hand signals. He dives under the covers when it’s cold, and licks me awake int he morning. Other than the fact that he doesn’t bark at dogs he can’t see, you’d never know he was any different/
Lacey was a Dane-Mastiff mix who was rescued from a goat farm whose owner walked away and abandoned her and a dozen goats without food or water. She tried to protect the goats from the animal control people who came from them and was labeled a ‘problem dog’. We fell in love at the foster home who wanted to keep her but she didn’t get along with their Yorkie. With us she was the gentlest giant you could ever meet. It turned out that she had cataracts and small active dogs startled her because she couldn’t see them well. She was six when we took her home and she lived to be 14, very old for a giant breed. We now have a new 4 month old English Mastiff!
OMG–we have a rescued Jake too, a German Shorthair who got hit by a truck like Jackie’s! we got him through NorCal GSP Rescue. His right rear hip and leg were broken and the great Rescue folks and foster parents took wonderful care of him until he was well enough to be adopted. we have had him now almost three years–he wasn’t quite a year old when we got him–and we are so thrilled with him!!
All of these stories make me want to cry with happiness!
Our goggie Dakota is a rescue from Happy Tails. We went to the adoption event looking for a puppy but the one we wanted had already been spoken for. I saw Dakota (then about 6 months old) and we adopted her instead. She’s been with us almost 10 years and she’s the silliest, funnest, sweetest dog. She was raised by our two cats, one of whom is also a rescue, and I think sometimes she thinks SHE’S a cat!
Jade, our little girl kitteh, was a stray someone turned in to our vet. My hubby adopted her for me as a birthday present over 14 years ago.
Our other kitteh, Kato, was adopted from a friend whose cat had had kittens. He’s 18 this year.
Growing up, I had a dog raised by cats. He would growl when you petted him because he was trying to purr!
That is the cutest thing I’ve ever heard!
we got our doggies because:
I was sitting on my bed doing crafts and heard a vehicle slow down. We live on a rural road and that is unusual so I looked up and saw a van turn around in the neighbors drive across the street. They opened up the side door and let a black dog out,….i thought maybe it was just a stop for a potty, but then they closed their van door and took off!!! She started chasing the van…..I ran out the door and started chasing them both cussing like crazy and trying to get their license plate. My husband heard the ruckus and came running to see what I was screaming and running about. Well, the van got away and I didn’t get their plate. The dog came limping back. She had ripped her paws on the asphalt trying to catch them and she was so scared. I took her to the vet first thing in the morning and he bandaged her paws up, deemed her healthy….but pregnant. The jerks kicked her out because they didnt’ want a pregnant dog but were too lazy to get her spayed.
So a month later, we had 4 puppies too! We found homes for 3 of them and we kept momma and one puppy. We’ve since discovered that momma is terrified of a broom and cowers if you have one in your hands….I’m certain they must have beaten her. It makes no sense. She is the most well behaved dog, never pees in the house, doesn’t chew anythign she shouldn’t. She already knew basic commands so they obviously took the time to train her but not spay her! We have both spayed now and they are spoiled with lots of snuggles and treats. If I ever see that van, I’m going to go off on those people for being so cruel.
and no jury would convict you.
When I was about three years old, a very overgrown gray dog wandered into our yard. My father’s family has a long history of being suckers, and my parents took the dog to the vet where she was diagnosed as being a hungry, elderly, in-need-of-a-haircut poodle. Mom and Dad didn’t believe the breed until they took her in for grooming, and, hey, there WAS a poodle under all that hair! We named the dog Hobo, since she’d been a wanderer. She was very loving and tolerant of the family toddler, the new baby, and the two cats already in residence. After she’d been with us for a while, Mom discovered that Hobo was deaf when her only reaction to the vacuum cleaner was watching the cats flee with a vaguely confused expression. When Hobo was diagnosed with cancer, we got her the surgery to remove the tumor and hoped for the best, which we all got in the form of another happy year and some wonderful memories for me of playing with my dog. After the cancer surgery, a neighbor happened to see us with Hobo in the back yard and told us that she was THEIR dog, they’d wondered where she’d gotten off to, and hinted that they wanted her back. As no one had responded to the found dog notices my family put out, we had reason to know that these people weren’t’ the best pet owners, we’d paid a lot in vet bills, and the kids were attached to the dog, my father hinted that if they wanted the dog back, vet bill reimbursement would be required. The subject dropped surprisingly fast for someone so interested in getting their dog back. We had Hobo with us for a little less than two years, but they were happy years!
Buddy showed up at our new house one day about…3 (?) weeks after we moved in. He was probably 2 years old, starved to death, and injured–yet he was the cutest dog I’d ever seen. He had these big light brown eyes and he was all brown except his chest (which was white).
My Ma had just come back from getting Taco Bell and he was just standing at our front door. My Ma (as well as myself, at the time) was terrified! There was this massive Pit Bull sitting outside of our house, he was obviously hungry, and we had plenty of hot, fresh food for him to munch on. Well, my step-dad (being the dog lover he was/is) came right outside and led this poor puppy into our garage and checked him out for ticks, wounds, etc. The pup seemed to be in fairly good condition considering…the environment he’d run away from. We (specifically my step-dad) took care of the pup that my brother so rightly named Buddy–got him back up to a normal weight, healed him, and eventually got him updated on his shots and whatnot.
We definitely didn’t have the money to take care of such a large dog and in a way I felt like Buddy understood that. He was/is the best dog I’ve ever had. He grew up living with a family down the street. Their idea of taking care of a dog was starving him and making him fight other dogs. They confronted us about Buddy, saying that he was their dog and whatnot. We quickly showed them the adoption papers saying we officially owned Buddy and told them that if they so much as thought about hurting him again, they’d be sorry. The father of this “family” brushed off the comment, saying that we could have him–apparently he wasn’t that much of a fighter. He would just curl up in a ball until it was all over with.
Whatever. It was their loss. Buddy may have lived a tough life in the beginning but…I guess that only furthers the saying “everything happens for a reason.” Buddy is not a mean dog. He’s never bitten, barked, or growled–atleast, not that we’ve ever seen. He does like to dance, though….a lot.:D (His version of dancing is standing on his back paws and putting all his weight on his front paws that rest on my hips. Me being 4’10 it’s almost like dancing with a human boy.)
Buddy was tired and sickly when we got him but now he is a strong, goofy boy who loves EVERYONE he meets. When he found us, he was at my hips (several years ago but I haven’t grown AT ALL since) now he’s much, much taller than me and uses that to his advantage whenever he can. ^.^ I love my Buddy and I hope that everyone can have as amazing an experience as I have had with a specific breed of dog that doesn’t have such a great reputation. (There’s no such thing as a bad dog, it’s a bad caretaker.)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=298551206840988&set=a.208869845809125.60192.100000583323620&type=3&theater
His picture.:D
I agree! I think you and your family are saints! I’m so tired of hearing people blaming the breed, when they should be blaming the owner!
^.^ Thank you so much!
If dog fighting is against the law in your state, you should report the folks that previously owned Buddy.
Our little guy Dozer was adopted about 1.5 years ago. He’s a handsome boy, who loves to give kisses. He’s a super mutt, and we’ll probably never know what breeds he really is (everybody has a different theory) though the shelter group we got him from (cheers for Georgia Homeless Pets!) thinks he is a corgi/hound mix. He was bigger than we had originally planned on, but I couldn’t imagine our life without him. He’s spoiled rotten and a total ham! Makes me laugh every day.
A worker at a local pet store came across an abandoned mamma dog and her pups while they were being assaulted with rocks by local kids. She took them home and then took the pups to her workplace for an adoption drive. We picked out Patches because she was the only female (my parents thought that females would be easier to handle) and because she was sleeping while all her brothers fought. She turned out to be the handful from Hades. She was undauntedly stubborn but extremely clever, disobedient to the nth degree but the most loving creature ever born; she would have given her life for us and very nearly did on several occasions. I have since grown up and moved out of the house. She died just under a year ago at the age of 16 1/2. She was my best friend until she died and I will love her forever.
SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS. I too know the heart ache of losing a beloved family dog….Candy-cane was a mixed little dog who was my heart…she lived to be 14 years old and got a tumor that surrounded her liver…I had to have her put down…she was suffering and so I made the decision to have her put down…as I pulled into the vet’s parking lot…the song on the radio was ” In the arm’s of the Angels ” by Sarah Mc Glaucklan….Candy -cane looked up at me and smiled as if to say ” It’s okay mom….I am ready to meet God today “… I cry every time I hear that song now…I miss her so much…I have lost other dogs too….I have 6 dogs now….I HAD 6 different dogs when I had Candy-cane….they all died within 2 years of each other…the youngest was 14 the oldest was 18……now my PACK is between 13 and 3 years old…all are rescues…I understand loss…I am a nurse on a Cancer floor…I ALSO understand love…and I LOVE animals…
Oh, I’m so sorry, I bet everyone here knows that feeling, when you know in your head that you are doing what is best for that pet and relieving that pain, but your heart just argues with you. It makes me cry, but I’m glad you have new babies! I honestly think that is the cure – rescue more who need you. Because you need them also!
Sometimes rescued dogs rescue you.
I don’t remember picking out my very own dog when I was four years old. My big brother had a tabby cat, Emerald, who was older than me and was pretty much my babysitter. So, I wanted a pet of my own. I know we went to the pound and my mom told me later that this sweet Schipperke mix was only days from being put down because there were too many dogs at the pound.
Moonshine was an excellent companion for a little girl who loved the outdoors. She went everywhere with me and I loved her like only a child can. We moved about a year after we got her to a small farm on my family’s land.
Moonshine, ever faithful, ever constant, was there the day I was playing next to the creek. She was there when the water moccasin reared up, showing me why it is also called a cottonmouth. Moonshine immediately went in between me and the snake, and took the bite. I ran home screaming and crying.
Moonshine survived the bite but never grew any fur in that spot again. We nursed her back to health. She lived until I went off to college. I wasn’t there for her in her final days, old and confused. She died one cold night when she wandered into a creek bed and couldn’t find her way out. My dad found her the next day.
I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for not being there for her in the end, but I know we gave her a good, long life.
My shepherd mix Madison was a rescuer from one of the only kill shelters in the lower mainland. When she was at the shelter she had a bad eye infection and such a bad flea infestation that she lost a lot of fur, the workers at the shelter said she came from a bad home and it was very obvious in the first few weeks when she cringed at everything. She was timid and scared but refused to leave my side since I took her home. Now she has a beautiful healthy coat and is a very healthy and happy girl! Her personality has shone through and she is starting to trust people again. It was by far the best decision I ever made to adopt her.
My husband brought Dewey home Christmas Eve — he was a German Shepherd rescue that we were supposed to watch over the weekend until a potential owner could see him. Well, by Monday morning I was hooked, and we’ve had him a little over a year. You could tell he’d had some bad times — cringing, very nervous, hyper. It was crazy for a while. But our wonderful shepherd, Arlo, has accommodated the new pack member, and things are settling down. Dewey is such a sweet, gentle dog — I love him!
I’ve had several dogs, all of which are important to me in different ways. The first was Jasmine, a catahoula, who we adopted from our local pound and she had been seen being tossed out of a pickup truck window on a highway. Luckily someone behind the driver saw it happen and stopped and took her to the animal shelter where we found her and she was an amazing dog. Our next was Annie, rot/lab mix, whose entire litter had been abandoned at a feed store. She was a bit of a basketcase and afraid of everything. Shelby, basset hound, was a rescue who was underfed and infested with fleas. My most recent is Tessa, border collie/blue tick healer mix, and I got her at the bound after she had been taken in as a stray. She was underfed and had worms and fleas. We also have 5 cats. 1 from the pound, 1 from a friend, 1 was abandoned by his feral mother, and 2 were strays that came in through our dog door.
We have six goggies and four kittehs, and they’re all rescues of one sort or another–either from the local animal control, from rescue organizations, or from bad situations.
I have two favorite stories from all our rescues. The first is Grania, a great dane, whom we found at the local animal control when we went to donate some food. They were trying to get her into the play yard, and she just would not walk with them. We walked up, and she sauntered over, sat down, and leaned on my mother’s leg, staring up at her with big, sad brown eyes. I, not being a dog person, refused to fold. I told Mom we’d bring Stitch, our lab mix, up to meet her the next day, since he was, at the time, our “big dog”. Well, we brought him up the next day, they sniffed noses, and neither of them seemed to care one way or the other. Then the great dane sat down, leaned against MY hip, and stared up at me with those same big, brown eyes … and I was lost. We took her home that day, the poor thing. She’d been abandoned and looked like she’d been in a concentration camp–she was literally skeletal! We had to coax her into the house. When we took her to the vet the next day, we found out she was about 6 years old, apparently pure bred, weighed only 87 lbs and had a massive heartworm infection. It took us about a month to put another 20 lbs on her so the vet would treat the heartworms, and even then we had to do a modified treatment (one shot, wait 4 weeks, second shot, stay quiet for 6 weeks). She came through with flying colors, eventually got up to 127 lbs, wrestled with the lab and the outside cat, and mothered the littler dogs for another 3 years before we finally lost her almost 4 years ago–and I still miss her terribly. So much for “Not a dog person”, right?
My second favorite story is Romany, the youngest of the cats. We lived in a rural area and, one day, on my way home from work, I found this kitten walking up the middle of the road. I stopped and put my window down to talk to him, and he came right up to the car, so I took him home. He was another skeletal one, so he went immediately into a crate and back down the road to the vet. He weighed less than half a pound, was about 6 weeks old, and was hypothermic to the point the vet wasn’t sure he’d live through the night. I got to take him back home the next day, with more warnings that he may not survive, because they’d had to force feed him and give him fluids by IV (which he kept pulling out). We had a followup appointment a week later, and when we came in, he weighed nearly a pound and a half, and the vet was so thrilled that he paraded him around the entire vet hospital, showing him off to all the techs and the other vets. Romany is now a fat, happy little troublemaker who loves nothing more than playing with the one dog who likes to play with him, and making the other dogs chase him.
My adopted dog is a Great Dane / Lab mix, or so we guess. I looked everywhere for a dog to adopt that would suit us. We checked out the shelters in New Mexico while visiting, since they have a major problem with tons of dogs getting put to sleep. But we did not find the right dog. Returned to Colorado and found Gypsy – our puppy at a rescue. They told us she was laid back and lazy and an English Bulldog mix. Yeah right. She is huge and leggy and very hyper even at her now age of 3. When we met her all she wanted to do was cuddle and sleep but when we got her home….. The energy appeared from nowhere. She is super gentle and sweet but very energetic. Turns out we had just missed her in New Mexico! She was being shipped to the rescue from there the same day we were driving home. We adore our big dog, though the poor thing has hip problems even at such a young age!
Our current dogs are shelter rescues. Prior to these, were puppy-mill rescues (you know, the animals that are left after the cops FINALLY manage to shut down the mills). With 3 exceptions our dogs have always come to us that way.
I wouldn’t trade rescue dogs for their weight in gold.
We adopted our dog, Misty, back in ’04 from the city animal shelter across town. Misty is a corgi mix and is over 8 years old now, she was about 4-5 months old when we found her in the shelter. The day we found her, was a day after she had been picked up off the streets, cold and alone, extremely fearful and shy. She was practically terrified of men/males and strangers, plus anyone who imposed their figure upon her, but that day we made a connection with her and decided to adopt her. We had to wait about two weeks to adopt her because of the 10 day waiting period to see if anyone came in to claim her plus also see if we were the first in line to adopt her, which we were. Then we had to wait and get her spayed, which thankfully the shelter took care of. We got her about a week and a half to two weeks after finding her at the shelter.
I thought up the name ‘Misty’ because of the day we found her. On the day we found her, the weather was just that…misty. The skies were gray and cloudy and it was sort of misting outside. It rained off and on, or at least it tried to, and the name for her just came to me. I suggested it to my family and they loved it.
It took Misty a short period of time to warm up to us, it took a bit longer for her to warm up to my brother and dad though. We figured that before being picked up and taken to the shelter, she had been abused by a male figure and that was and is still why she is so fearful of men. She warms up to females much faster than males, and it was amazing how fast Misty learned and still learns things. She was house broken within a month and picked up tricks and some unwanted behaviors all on her own. She still picks up a lot of behaviors all on her own or after just a few tries.
We realized within a couple months that Misty loves to climb (she climbed over the baby gate we had in the kitchen while we were out one evening, the little sneak), she has a Napoleonic Complex, shes afraid of the dark, and she’s a good bit claustrophobic. My Misty is so special to me and my family. I remember my brother saying he “Never wanted a dog” but I know he loves her so much by how much affection he shows her and has shown her over the years.
My life has changed so much because of her. She is my first real dog since I was about 4 when I had a Shelti named Dolly (named after Dolly Parton who I loved at that time), who we got from a pet store (we didn’t know then what we do now). I loved Dolly, but not long after we got her, she started to change, we found she had a horrible case of Heartworm and that I had horrible dog allergies so we had to give her up to a family who could take better care of her. Not a day goes by that I don’t wonder what happened to my Dolly, when I don’t wonder if she got the help she needed and if she had a good life after us. I look back at the pictures of her and I and I remember the good times, the things I can remember. I also wonder if part of her…is in Misty and/or if she lead us to Misty…I hope that we all meet again one day.
Misty is an awesome, loving, sweet, adorable, amazing, silly, crazy, goofy, soul in a four-legged form…and I cherish every day I have with her.
It will change the world for the person adopting it too!!!
Yes!
Our dog Bones apparently saw the sign that only animals can see at the bottom of my driveway…”Sucker for animals lives here”. She was a fully grown pit-mix when she showed up severly malnourished. She was only a day or two away from death. She spent a week at the vet office on intravenous feeding and after that week was pronounced hale and healthy. We live on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and unfortunately, dogs are treated very badly here.
Bones is an incredibly loving dog. I still can’t fathom how anyone could just let her walk out of their lives.
My lovely rescue boy is a pedigree Wire Haired Fox Terrier who’s previous owners didn’t have time for him and gave him to the Fox Terrier Rescue.
http://www.foxterrierrescue.co.uk/Adoptables.html The current dogs needing homes. He is very cute and fluffy and yesterday he barked very fiercely at the burglars who broke in and stole our stuff. We interrupted them and they didn’t get as much as they wanted.
The one good thing about a terrible job I once had – a starving puppy of no fixed breed who wandered into the office one day.
Story and videos on my blogpost: Here
I have had my chocolate lab Elwood since he was a wee pup and now he’s 9 years old. I have never before experienced the unconditional, all encompassing love that only dogs can give and I enjoy every single minute with him. I know this is supposed to be stories about rescues and adoptees, so I want to add that when I have the finances I will adopt a rescued pit bull. In the meantime I hope to volunteer at a pit bull rescue. My heart goes out to these fair and misunderstood dogs–they are not naturally aggressive as so many people believe. That aggression is forced upon them by unscrupulous people who have no redeeming qualities as a human. Recall Michael Vick and his pit bull fighting dogs–55 of them were saved, with a few needing to be put down because they were too badly abused. Most of the rest of them were retrained and went on to become therapy dogs, service dogs and loving pets. Thanks for reading my diatribe!
Not a diatribe – a statement of fact! Pitties are loyal, loving, energetic and sometimes goofy dogs who need someone who understands their breed and will give them the love they share with their people. I hope you can take one into your family soon.
Even though I have an english foxhound and an emu (yes, a huge bird) outside and a teacup poodle (the son’s partner in crime) and a holier than thou white female cat named Priestess, I didn’t know how empty my life was until I got my disabled pit bull puppy, dancer. She has a left forepaw that didn’t develop right, so it flops about a bit because it has no wrist bones. She also has a real thumb!! That’s her expressive hand, she waves it, points with it, plays using it, and runs on it. The vet had said that the whole leg would need to come off, or just put her down. I have yet to see her have any problems, and she has filled my life with a love I’ve never known from any other dog. Love my Shadow Dancer!
Since I was about 8 years old (almost 30 now) my family has owned a grand total of four dogs. Two of them were strays that found us and two were from owners who couldn’t take care of them anymore. And all of them came at a time when we weren’t looking for another dog. I think as a family we’ve come to the conclusion that we will never have to go to a shelter, the dog will come to us.
My dear Lucy, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in November of 2009, came into my life in February, 1997. I was ready to adopt, so I kept going to meet the dogs from the different rescue organizations at Petsmart on the weekends. I met Lucy (then named Jasmine), and felt a connection, but I wasn’t sure. The next week, she wasn’t there, so I figured she had found her forever home. But then, the next week, which just happened to be Valentine’s Day, there she was again. And as soon as I came around the corner, she stood up and wagged her tail. The representative from that rescue organization said she hadn’t seen “Jazz” do that, and asked if I knew her. Well, I met her two weeks ago, but I wasn’t sure. The lady said, “It looks like she’s sure.” I took her home that day, and my Valentine puppy, Lucy, and I were together for 12 wonderful years. I miss her every single day. ♥
Kai was two years old. He’d been found wandering, and he’d been abandoned at the PAWS shelter twice. Thirteen years later, he’s still with us. Rustle belonged to a woman who bought him for company after her divorce. When she started to socialize again, she realized that it wasn’t fair to leave Rustle cooped up in a crate all the time. She went looking for a foster or forever home for him, and my wife brought him home.
How much times we gotz…
Pepper puppy came from the Humane Society. She was considered a “bad dog” because she chewed up her previous humans stuffs. When we got to know her, we found out she’s brilliant and energetic (Dr thinks she might be part Jack Russel and part Spaniel) and now that she’s got some obedience training and a buddy to play with, she’s a great little dog. Her playmate is…
George. George a sweet little Beagle boy. He was released to the Humane Society for being an escape artist extraordinaire! He’s a good little boy, also very smart so when he gets bored, he goes ‘splorin! George and Pepper keep each other entertained. He’s also a very sweet dog.
The grand dame of our family is Bailey. Bailey was found wandering around last spring and a friend of ours took her in. Two weeks later she was staying with us. We did eventually find her family, who were in dire straits financially. When Bailey got lost, they tried to find her, but were also in the process of getting evicted. It was heartbreaking. Since they were probably going to have to find a home for all their pets and were going to relocate as well, they decided we could have her. They eventually moved “back home” and we wish them the best. Bailey is an 8 year old sweet yellow labby.
All of our kittehs are rescued too.
My beautiful, wonderful dog Scout died last year. I still miss him. He was dropped off at the pound on Christmas Eve. They kept him for 5 months and I knew he was mine as soon as I saw him. He loved to herd and when the kids were little, he would herd them around the yard. He was my running partner, and a great camper and hiker. He would let me cry into his thick fur when I was sad, and he would play when we were happy. He was the first dog my husband even liked, and he was the best protector of our family. My kids grew up with him, and he lived with us happily for 11 years. He can never be replaced.
Our new dog was abandoned in a rural area. I hope that people who dump their pets get a stay in the afterlife where they are left alone with no food, water, shelter, or anything familiar, and maybe some predators to make them afraid to sleep. She has recovered from her trauma and is a nutball bundle of joy.
I agree, they should feel the abuse they gave, maybe sevenfold.
our girl came from craigslist, family lost job. the boy came from petfinders, never had an indoor home. both Danes
All our cats and dogs over the last many years have been rescues. We adopted our dog Wade, a German Shepherd mix, from the Baytown Humane Society in 2004. Our cat came from the crazy cat lady next door about a year ago and we just decided to keep a Pitt mix that we rescued off the freeway a couple of weeks ago. After having no luck finding her owner we’ve decided she’ll make a wonderful addition to our family.
Our dog Chloe was certainly an unexpected addition to our family. After the loss of our previous dog in 2008, A St. Bernard named Daisy-Mae, Mom had decided that we weren’t going to have any more pets and that she’d rather work on the house a bit before she even considered it.
Last year, the home for assisted living that my sister worked at had one of their dogs die, so they went to get a new one. Unfortunately they found out after the fact that pitbulls weren’t allowed in such facilities in our area. Some of these people were in tears over what would happen to this dog since there weren’t many no-kill shelters open for her breed, so my sister called up mom…
I wake up to a knock on my bedroom door later that morning to find a pitbull/terrier puppy on a leash. She climbed up on my bed and I just fell in love. She is such a friendly dog that has gone through so much. When we got her papers, we found out that Chloe was actually a stray that came all the way from Georgia (a far cry from upstate New York). Her records and scars showed that she may have been in some fights as most of the injuries were on her ears and over one of her eyes.
She still has her anxieties, but she is a very loving member of our family. While I do still miss Daisy, I still love Chloe soooooooo much!
Years ago, when I was living in Houston, an acquaintance was looking for a home for a Siberian mix that his boys had found in the woods nearby. They weren’t taking very good care of the dog and he didn’t have a fenced backyard and was having to tie him up and didn’t like it. Would I just give him a try? He turned out to be the smartest dog I’ve ever been around (which has been many!). Canine Einstein, he was. It was like he could understand the English language…”Ceasar, pick that up for me, please”. And he would. One summer, a squirrel had gotten into a power substation and it blew causing the neighborhood to be without power. Summer. Houston. No power. Hot. I put a box fan in the open window in the living room for some kind of air and then filled Ceasar’s bowl in the kitchen for supper. I left the room and when I returned, he had carried his bowl into the living room to eat in a little more comfort. I felt so bad and stupid and said I was so sorry and why didn’t I think of that? He loved frisbie but wouldn’t tolerate other dogs. Had him for eight wonder-filled years before he crossed the bridge. Everybody at my apartment complex grieved with me when they would see me without him, but I would go walking with my best friend to walk her dogs. She would let me walk one of her dogs, whichever one I wanted.
About 3 months later, my daughter was down to visit and suggested that we go to the SPCA there in Houston, “just to look, you know”. We checked out a Spitz (beautiful blue eyes) but she was just too nippy. Then we checked out a cow dog mix but just didn’t work. Then, there he was…just about 3 months old. This little furball of a black Akita puppy. I really didn’t want a puppy because of the shots, the chewing, housetraining, etc. My daughter kept saying, “Get the puppy!!!” Looked at every dog there and kept coming back to Juni Ko. Loved that dog so much! Can’t believe he was ever that small. Even for an Akita, he was large. We did the obedience training and he did very well. He was very intimidating looking but was the sweetest boy and oh, he loved the grandkids! One evening, (years later), the baby monitor was going off in the kitchen and Juni was having a fit, trying to get around to the back of it to find that crying baby. He made us laugh so much. Another time, our daughter in law was changing her newborn and he was being a little fussy and Juni didn’t like it. He very gently took Tracy’s elbow in his mouth, I guess telling her to stop making that baby cry. Juni Ko (this is a Taiiwanese name; closest I could get to Japanese) crossed the bridge in 2003 and I still miss him.
After a very brief battle with a very painful bone cancer, my Siberian Husky Tug crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I knew that I wanted another Siberian, preferably about a year or two old. A couple of months after his passing, I adopted a 1 y/o little girl Husky from our local animal shelter that had been found as a stray; well, my mother and her 12 lb shih tzu/poodle mix live with me, and after 3 weeks, she attacked him. After $170 vet bill, and a visit from a private trainer, etc, etc, etc, the best decision was to bring her back to the pound to try and find a more suitable family. (She was re-adopted in 4 days, and Buddy recovered with only a minimal scar). I decided to wait a little bit before getting another dog, as I was going on vacation. Well, while on vacation, I found what I thought was a Siberian mix puppy on Petfinder–I contacted the rescue, did all the paperwork, reference checks, etc, while on vacation, and the weekend after I got back home, I drove 4 hours one way, with my mother, brother and their two dogs (both rescues, BTW) to do a meet and sniff, and bring Charlie (then named Champ) home. I did a doggie DNA test on him, and he is not one bit Husky! He is mostly German Shepherd with a hint of St. Bernard! He is the sweetest dog in the neighbourhood, and loves everyone and every dog he meets. He just turned two on Valentine’s Day, and has been a working therapy dog since just before Christmas! He may not have been what I expected, but he is obviously what I needed to help heal my broken heart.
Tamandra of http://www.HeartDogStudios.com took this amazing photo. She does great work with local rescue groups in San Diego!
My dog Sowensa was found on the streets of Spain when she was around a year old – very thin, very dirty and very scared! She arrived in Denmark on january 25th 2009, to begin her life as my dog.
Less than a year later, her weight was almost doubled, she played, growled, barked, sniffed, cuddled, and was as clean as you can keep an overactive hunting dog mix breed! And she had cured my more than 10 year long depression. Since I’ve had her, I’ve laughed every single day.
And on december 18th 2009, an second little furbaby was added when my sister adopted 2 year old Louis, a sweet, sweet, sweet gentle boy who’d been left in a hotelroom, from the same spanish shelter where I found Sowensa. As soon as I can afford it, I’m getting another dog – of course from a shelter.
Don’t Shop – Adopt!
My little Pittie girl came in to my life quite unexpectedly. My best friend just had her house broken into and she decided to go to the pound and get the biggest meanest dog she could find (ha – she fell in love with and walked out with a poodle!). While she was looking, I was trying NOT to look because I know how much of a sucker I am for the pound-puppies and I also knew that i definitely could not get a dog (my apt didn’t allow it and I had no money to take care of one).
Well, as we’re leaving the one section of the pound that houses the girl dogs I hear this sad, tired bark. I turned around and there, sitting in the way back of her cage, completely skin and bones, was the most heartbreaking dog I had ever seen. She was so skinny that the skin on her back had split open and you could see her spine. I bent down to the cage and she literally crawled over to me because she was too week to stand up, picked her up up and licked my hand through the wire. Well, that was that. I was taking her home.
After a 2 hour fight with the pound (she was scheduled to be put down that night and she was not spayed), they finally agreed to let me adopt her. They said they would let me come and feed her to get her weight back up so they could spay her (it’s not legal for the pound in my county to adopt out unaltered pit bulls). Well the wires must have gotten crossed because next thing I know a volunteer was calling me at 3am telling me that the vet had performed the surgery on my dog and when the night staff came on they found her unconscious and bleeding from the nostrils, so because the vet did not leave a record of what he did, they opened her up AGAIN to see if they could save her life. Really long story short – I ran down there, raised holy hell, they let me take her out of there and get her to my vet. My vet saved her life and helped me sue the pound (the vet that performed the surgery was not licensed to practice vet medicine in the U.S. and he pretty much butchered her).
We won, she lived, and was my very best friend for over 12 years. She recently died, but will never ever be forgotten. The most loving and amazing dog I have ever had and I have never regretted a single minute of having her in my life.
Pound puppies are so special.
Pound Pittie puppies even more so.
Maxwell came from a box at a gas staion labeled “free puppies.” I have to admit, we paid for Ronin. My next-door neighbors had puppies and I *had to* have one. Of course, you know, it’s the free one who’s worth a million bucks to me.
I have 2 lovely rescued Weims and 1 formerly stray cat. Aurora, the kitty, found my husband one rainy night. She ran right up to him after work and followed him home. Then ignored him for the next year. Ah Siamese kitties.
Our 2 Weims came from Mile High Weim Rescue here in CO. We got our male Shadow first. He was about 9 or 10 months old. He was found running wild in Roswell NM. My husband maintains that he is an alien. He had kennel cough and a few other illnesses the poor dear. He had to take 12 pills a day to get better. When we got him he was about 65 lbs. He grew up to be a 95 lb momma’s boy. He is happiest in life when he is curled up under a blanket on my feet. He’d prefer my lap but he is too heavy.
Our female Keara had a rougher life. She was a hunting dog that got shot and became scared to hunt. We had to pick the bird shot out of her side. Her dewclaws were removed and tail was docked with pliers! Then she was staked out in the backyard and bred. She was dumped out of a car because she had developed behavioral and health issues. She weighed in at 45 lbs. It took us over a year to get her up to a healthy 65 lbs. She still has issues we are working on but we just love her, the little blanket thief.
I have to stop reading these stories – my heart is breaking. There’s cruelty, there’s lazy, and there’s misinformed people who choose a dog that’s not right for them. The poor dogs!
I am heartened to see so many wonderful people who have rescued dogs, and given them wonderful homes and companionship.
If there’s one message I’d want to tell people considering a dog, it is: make sure the dog is right for you, and more importantly, make sure you are the right family for that dog.
Not every family/person is suitable for a particular dog, and not every dog is suited to the family.
But jeez it’s nice when both human’s and dog’s lives are enhanced by the partnership.
It drives me crazy when people get a dog without thinking about it. It always makes me happy, however, when someone realizes they’ve brought home a dog who doesn’t fit and learns from it and finds a way to get that dog to a home where they WILL fit! One of ours is one of those.
Taz (Taz Moe Razz, when he’s in trouble–his first family called him “Moe”) is a miniature pinscher who was, unfortunately, purchased from a breeder by a family who wanted a playmate for their 5-year-old pomeranian. A miniature pinscher puppy is NOT an appropriate playmate for an older pomeranian! They’re perpetual motion machines–and the poor pom was terrified of the new puppy.
They put up a post on craigslist. At the time, we were looking for someone to play with our 2-year-old min-pin. None of the other dogs were quite as energetic as her, and she needed someone who could keep up with her while chasing around the yard. This looked to us like a perfect fit.
I arranged to come meet the puppy, who was as wild as ever, and the poor family was just horrified that he wouldn’t hold still long enough for me to meet him. I had to explain to them that it was perfectly normal for a min-pin puppy (the 2-year-old had been the same at his age). We spent some time talking while the puppy calmed down a little–enough to give my hand a sniff, then bring me a toy–and even though I wouldn’t be able to take him home for a week and they were anxious to find him a home, they chose us. I was, they said, the only person who’d come to meet him and known anything at all about the breed. And everyone else had been vaguely horrified by his energy level.
Taz has now been a happy member of our family for about 4 years, he’s the one dog that prefers me to Mom, and the only one who will actually play with one of the cats–it’s hilarious to watch him dance up to the cat and try to convince the cat to chase him. And the family he came from? We kept in touch for a while. Last I heard, they were still looking for a playmate for the pom, but were being very careful about choosing one!
Our dalmation showed up at a friend’s tire shop on a very cold day in November of 1999.
She was in good shape but definitely freezing her adorable behind off! We brought her home while we looked for her owner, but we fell in love that very first night. We never found her previous owner so we kept her! We decided to name her Girl since it was the only name she responded to lol.
Unfortunately, about 2 years ago, she got really sick and we had to put her to sleep. We had her for 11 years and she was an amazing friend and companion. She definitely changed our world, and I’d like to think we changed hers.
In 2009 I finally convinced my parents to let me have a dog of my own. I went on the internet and looked up the local RSPCA and dog adoption groups.
I was on a website that fostered and re-homed rescued/abandoned dogs in my area when I saw Ruby’s picture online, and I fell into her gorgeous gold eyes.
When I met her at the foster home it didn’t matter that she was still skin and bones, or that her head was scarred; this little 11 week old Coolie cross was the one.
During the drive home from the vet she was so quiet and calm in the car, and when she saw the bed and toys I had for her she was so happy, but she didn’t like sleeping alone and I caved.
To this day she sleeps on my bed and follows me everywhere I go. I even take her with me to our local pet store where she chooses her own treats. And every year we go to the local Thousand Paws Walk togeather.
She is the sweetest, gentlest dog, and my darling.
We rescued our German Shepard Angel from the local animal shelter when she was 8 months old. Two years later she rescued me from an attack by two Pitbulls by getting between them and me. She had to spend the night at the vets, where she received stitches and IV treatment. We also have a beagle/staffordshire mix named Muttsy from a person giving pups away by the side of the highway.
We lost our Springer Spaniel to a long illness last Feb. A short time after that, a friend lost her job, and shortly after, her house. She had an Olde English Bulldogge that she saved from a breeder, as she was completely blind, and the breeder was going to have her put down. Unfortunately, my friend was forced to go stay with her son in a no pet apt building, so Babs (the dog) was likely going to go to a shelter, where they would have put her down as unadoptable.
We drove for 10 hours to get Babs that Sept. She is a complete joy to have around, and we often feel like we didn’t rescue her, but she rescued us. My husband has cancer, and Babs is so completely his dog, and she reminds him how good it is to live.
Thank you Babs.
I rescued my two Pitties, Penny and Tate from the Los Angeles Shelter when they were lil puppies. I was going to just take one but since they were brother and sister, I didnt have the heart to separate them. Then a few years later, my mom told me there was a lil puppy roaming around in the parking lot of her apartments and the puppy wouldnt let anyone approach it. I went to see my mom a few days later and saw the white terrier puppy and I called to her (hers was a girl) and she came out slowly and laid on her back, showing her belly for rubs. I scooped her up and now, Memphis, is attached to my hip and she gives me sooo much squee!! I was severly depressed and stressed,but now that I have all my sweet babies, all I have is smiles and good times with them.
My family rescued two pups from a puppymill: one, a Shih-Tzu ~Poodle mix (who is my daddy’s dog, and only a few weeks old when we got her) and, later on, a Snauzer~Cocker Spaniel mix that was several month old who we gave to my grandparents after rehabbing her. They both had fleas, and the Schnocker had hookworms, and had been beaten by the guy who ran the puppymill-he is dead now, thankfully. Her ears were so full of dirt/hair/crud that the vet said she was deaf until her ears were cleaned out by the vet. She was about 15 lbs underweight when we got her. It took many months, many fearful accidents, and long hours spent just laying on the floor in the room with her for her to realize that people are ok and not all of them are going to cause pain. Almost 5 years later, she loves my grandparents and cannot get enough of cuddling with them. Various things still scare her, but she is constantly improving. They are both the most spoiled mutts you could ever find.
Such wonderful stories! Thank you for sharing my image, I took this at an adoption event, with a little girl who just fell in love with this equally adorable pibble. Sugar is now adopted and in a home with two young boys that she lavishes love on
I’d love it if you liked this image, to come see more rescue images at my Facebook page, for Heart Dog Studios. I just started working with a brand new rescue, and will have lots of new images!
i got Jake, my jack russell/corgi cross from my local SSPCA about 3 years ago. he’s a great wee thing. the staff at the shelter told me that when i took him (he was 18months old at the time) he had already been adopted out twice. he first went in when he was about 9 months old after being found stray. a few months later, he reappeared as a stray again. they think that both times his owners didn’t realise or couldn’t cope with him because of his energy. he is a perpetual motion machine, even when he’s asleep he runs:D
he’s is a great wee thing, though he does tend to launch himself off my lapin painful ways sometimes. every two weeks i take him up to my parents’ house in the country n he has a huge run about with my dad’s 3 collies. he loves it. but he hates water which is fun. especially when i had to give him a bath after he rolled in the unidentified dead mouldy thing he found in the forest behind my folks’ house (it may have been a sheep that wandered off, yuk).
this weekend he’s having a weekend holiday as my boy n i are away so he will be causing havoc at my parents’ place again.
Finn picked me out at the local pound. I went looking for an older dog and then I saw this sad, little black puppy. He looked broken hearted. His litter mates and mom had all been adopted and both dogs on either side of him had found new homes so he was left all alone. I stopped by to give him a quick scratch and them be on my way but fate or rather Finn wouldn’t let me go.
He squeezed himself under the kennel door and nabbed my pant leg. I looked down and huge brown eyes with the most hopeful look begged me to take him. I burst into tears and pried him off. After nudging him back under the door, I left. I could hear him crying. I ran to the front desk and demanded a leash.
He came home that day. I saved his life so that he could save mine. I later found out that he had been born in the shelter and that had been passed by over and over. Nobody wanted a plain black dog that was rambunctious. He’s now 70 pounds of bed hog and the best road trip buddy ever.
I can’t read any more , tho I love the ends of these , the cruelty these babies have suffered gives me nightmares.
When I got my mini Schnauzer cross pup, I was really ignorant about puppy farms and realised too late that I had been supporting one by doing it. Worse, the dog who gave birth to her was being bred every 6 months !!!! So I started a campaign to get the mother dog, I emailed and phoned on and on and on till I drove the guy mad and I got her! Yay. So now I have two of the the sweetest dogs in the world
My two doggies, Lovie and Smoochie were originally my aunt’s. She had a Shih Tzu back in the day and wound up with two boys, brothers.
She died about three years ago, and my family already had dogs.
Shortly after, I decided to move out, and I adopted Lovie and Smoochie. We’ve been a fur family for over 2 years, with a stray Maine Coon I found, Puka, and two shelter kitties (and sisters), Punkin and Bacon.
While I might have saved them, my life wouldn’t be as rich if they weren’t in it. Hooray for shelter pets and adoption!
My dog is a BC/chow mix. Flit, as she is fondly known, was a rescue in Maryland. Her past owner beat and abused her, and left her with a fear of males.
Only 21 months later my $150 paid off. I was attacked by a rabid animal and she saved my life, throwing herself into the line of fire.
Now she is 4 years only and I 4.5 times that. Her sacrifice saved me… even the shyest dog can become a most fearsome warrior in the face of danger to a loced one.