For every happy wagging tail to every happy dog in a happy home there are the dogs you just can't save. There are the dogs that have been so badly beaten so badly abused that there is no turning back. If only they could talk and if only they could really understand that I am not here to hurt them but want to help them. **sigh**
Yesterday a volunteer went to the shelter and pulled 3 dogs. The dogs were very nice and sweet to her and seemed to be nice. Unfortunately the reality is 2 of them were NOT!
I will work with anything..... scared, shy, cancer, broken bones, heart worm positive but aggression I do not work with. It is not worth the risk to others (human or animal) and I think I proved that 10 fold last night.
The Aussie was a nice dog when it came to humans.. well sort of. I came home from work to do my normal evaluation of the new dogs. I played with the Aussie see what he would let me do and to see if I would get a negative reaction from him but I didn't. He seemed like a nice boy. However, when I tested him with other dogs. OUCH! NOT NICE out of blood... literally. He almost killed the little white JRT we pulled from the pound yesterday. Poor Travis has some pretty nasty bite wounds :-( The Aussie also attacked my dog. He went after my dog with a mission. Petey does not back down for anything... except me. I told him "PETEY OFF" and he started to walk away from the fight but the Aussie was having no part of it. Jumped on Petey. I took a bucket of water dumped it on the Aussie and then had to hit him with the bucket to get him off. Once he was off my dog, my dog walked away and the Aussie tried to go after him again but I was standing between them.... that dog was going to take down anything in his way. He wanted at Petey NOW!
I called the Dog Warden and told him to come back and get this dog. I was mad. At the same time though it is a good thing I got the dog and not some family looking to rescue a dog from the pound. OMG could you imagine if a child got between this dog and another dog. UGH!
The poor white JRT, Travis did get hurt. I cleaned him all up and put him on Medicine. He was taken for a ride that is for sure. Petey my dog is ok. Honestly, Petey would have probably killed the Aussie. Petey can be not so nice if he needs to be. And he will not let anything happen to his mom :-) I love my Petey!
So, I was totally sad about the Aussie and I feel bad sending him back to the pound. It probably isn't his fault that he is like that.. I mean it could be breeding but hard to tell. He did have fly bites on his ears and definitely knew how not to pull on a lead. Guarantee he was tied to some dog house somewhere. Why do people get a dog and tie it up outside? What the hell is the point of having a dog if you are going to tie it up outside and ignore it? It is like buying a car parking it in the drive way and NEVER going near it. What the hell is the point?
The other JRT mix.. black and white dog. She was defiantly beaten A LOT! She has some serious fear aggression. Now there are two types of fear aggression.... type one I am scared and I snap at you because I want you to leave me alone and type two I AM GOING TO GET YOU BEFORE YOU GET ME!
It is type two that is scary and you can not over come it. Once a dog has crossed the line of please leave me alone to I am going to get you there is not a lot you can do.
The female JRT mix was definitely past that point. She was Ok with the volunteer but was pretty much determined to eat me and my husband. The dog warden said she was hit and miss with people at the kennel too. Once day she would like you the next day she wanted to hurt you.
UGH! Makes me sick. This poor little dog didn't deserve to be treated so badly that she is now mentally gone.
Kirsten had to wrangler her up and get her in a crate so I could to take her to the vet today. That poor dog. Hopefully she will find peace now.
I did not sleep all night, tossed and turned. Just breaks your heart when you can't save them. There are people out there that say "just work with them" "find that special home" But I am sorry if you could see the wounds on the white JRT and the way the Aussie came towards me because I was in his way of getting Petey. And that poor little female mix she wanted to hurt me and hurt me bad. There is just so much you can do.
This is the side of rescue that people DO NOT SEE. The suffering, the helplessness, the heart ache.
This is the part of rescue I wish didn't exists... hell I really wish rescue didn't exists but can't have everything we want.
4 comments:
That sucked. I am going to see if they will let me take the "boarder collie" out today to play when I go sign the paper work.
I have definitely come a long way from where my views were when I started helping with rescue. Remember the "oh he's cute, let's get him!" and the "look at that face!" I used to try on you? It is sad but true, that we can't save them all. It used to completely tear me apart. Not that it doesn't get to me anymore but I am more realistic. If anyone will slap a person into reality it is you, Am. haha
The best that we can do is give it our best shot. We have acomplished so much in a short period of time and we have raised a lot of awareness in the area.
I wrote another paper about pet stores and puppy mills on Monday, btw. It was an any topic paper for english.
I hope that we do get the AUSSIE. :P
I am so sorry. I had a similar situation recently and know it is heartbreaking. In my case I called and said the dog has to. Too iffy, can't foster him, had a feeling but had not seen any real agression. Said I will keep him safe, cared for and away from my kids, cats, dogs until we can move him.
He went to another foster and tried to kill a cat, went after the dogs and when tested with a baby doll ripped it's head off and re-directed when they tried to stop the attack.
Sometime you don't know in advance and sometimes you can't do it. It sucks! No dog should ever get to that point. Chin up! You do awesome work and you make a differecne every day!
...Drop by my place. I've posted an award for you! :)
I left a tiny rat terrier behind this week. She came in terrified and got worse during the week she was there. I still gave her every chance but when I can't even get close enough to drop a slip lead over her neck to see how she would do outside, without her going nuts and leaping up and biting me, she's staying there. I agree, it's not their fault but there is only so much damage we can repair.
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