JDawg
09-26-2007, 03:10 PM
As promised...the story of my little rescued Collie who I named "Tuff" because he was tough enough to survive his ordeal.
************
I had noticed a starving stray in early November 2003, on the US-52 South onramp at Westinghouse Road. I started leaving food and water for him, and even provided a shelter made from a 55-gallon drum. He began to show up at the appointed time...morning and afternoon...and we became fast friends. I worked daily to gain his trust, but he remained too skittish to get into the truck.
About 3 weeks into it, on a Thursday morning, he didn't show up for our morning romp, and the food was still untouched late that afternoon. Friday was the same story. I figured that the county had picked him up, and decided to go to the Forsyth Animal shelter Saturday to put in a good word for him and to tell them that I'd take him if his time ran out. I already had seven dogs at the time.
He wasn't there...but a small, Rough Coat, tricolor male Collie...about 50 pounds...was in the back. Filthy, matted, and obviously terrified, he sat in a corner of a pen that he shared with a large German Shepherd mix...a Boxer mix...and a mongrel of unknown breeding. He caught my gaze and quickly dropped his head...but he kept looking back when he thought that I wasn't paying attention.
Being an unabashed adorer of Collies, I asked about him. I already had three Collies...A female and two brothers from her only litter that I couldn't part with when the time came to place them...but this one struck me as special.
They told me that he had come in on November 18th...tied and abandoned at the Humane Society shelter on Miller Street. Very much afraid, and refused to let anybody touch him. They called County Animal Control
to take him.
His body language suggested that he had been abused and his overall condition proved much neglect, and the folks at the shelter had deemed him as non-adoptable because of his fear-based aggression. I asked them if I could have the dog if I could show that he wouldn't bite.
After much wheedling, and signing of a waiver...they cleared the other dogs out and let me and Kelie enter the pen. I got on one knee, and Kelie sat on the floor.
Much more afraid of me, he cowered and approached Kelie one painful step at a time while he kept his eye on me. He let me stroke him, but
trembled and showed a hint of his teeth. It took him nearly five minutes to make the 10-foot journey to her, and when she was able to touch him, he rolled over into her lap and whimpered...tail wagging.
He watched me closely, and finally let me stroke him without snarling...but his eyes still had terror in them.
I had to go to the shelter daily for a week before they'd agree to release him to me. I went at noon and again at 4:00 when Kelie went.
They agreed, and we were able to pick him up Monday after his neutering and vaccinations. We refused to wait until Tuesday, and picked him up at the vet's office at 6:00 PM Monday, December 2nd after a 45-minute through evening traffic, rather than wait until the next day at noon. We were desperate to get him out of that place, afraid that the German Shepherd mix that he shared the kennel with would hurt him while he was weak.
The initial hope in his eyes was fading by the end of the trial week, and we were afraid that he'd give up...or that the big Shepherd would sense his weakness and finish him off. He was still a little groggy when we got there, and when he saw us, he literally crumpled onto the floor at our feet and cried.
For several weeks, he sat in a corner and wouldn't approach us...and it took nearly 6 months before he stopped rolling onto his back when we approached him...eyes darting, tail tucked, and forelegs pulled up in front of his face in a defensive posture. We discovered that he's deaf as a result of untreated ear mites...and that he had been pretty badly mauled by one of two of the dogs that he was penned with at the shelter. The bites were infected and festered...and the vet hadn't even discovered it. We clipped the matted hair and treated the infections, and he healed quickly.
We moved to Davidson County in 2005. He now lives in the downstairs part of the house in his own space, and has a bed by the gas logs for his arthritic hips...even though he was only about 3 years old at the time... but sleeps on the couch..or in the bed as he pleases. One of the best dogs that I've ever known, he could be the poster child for rescue dogs. Three doses weekly of Glucosamine Condroitin, along with baby aspirin has very much improved his hips, and he bounds toward me when I go down to let him out for his exercise periods 3-4 times a day.
We named him "Tuff" because he was tough enough to endure what he had been through...and greets us with a smile and a furiously wagging tail whenever he sees us. Very deserving of his second chance, and very much worth the effort.
The real kicker to this story? The stray on US-52 disappeared on the same day that Tuff arrived at the shelter...November 18th.
Acording to the paperwork, Officer Lanier recorded his time of arrival at 10:30 that morning...the exact time that I left the house to go back and look for my stray after he didn't show up earlier that day. I continued to look for him, but he never came back to the onramp.
Do dogs have guardian angels? I think this one did...in the form of a little mongrel who got my attention and ultimately led me to my lost, frightened boy.
************
I had noticed a starving stray in early November 2003, on the US-52 South onramp at Westinghouse Road. I started leaving food and water for him, and even provided a shelter made from a 55-gallon drum. He began to show up at the appointed time...morning and afternoon...and we became fast friends. I worked daily to gain his trust, but he remained too skittish to get into the truck.
About 3 weeks into it, on a Thursday morning, he didn't show up for our morning romp, and the food was still untouched late that afternoon. Friday was the same story. I figured that the county had picked him up, and decided to go to the Forsyth Animal shelter Saturday to put in a good word for him and to tell them that I'd take him if his time ran out. I already had seven dogs at the time.
He wasn't there...but a small, Rough Coat, tricolor male Collie...about 50 pounds...was in the back. Filthy, matted, and obviously terrified, he sat in a corner of a pen that he shared with a large German Shepherd mix...a Boxer mix...and a mongrel of unknown breeding. He caught my gaze and quickly dropped his head...but he kept looking back when he thought that I wasn't paying attention.
Being an unabashed adorer of Collies, I asked about him. I already had three Collies...A female and two brothers from her only litter that I couldn't part with when the time came to place them...but this one struck me as special.
They told me that he had come in on November 18th...tied and abandoned at the Humane Society shelter on Miller Street. Very much afraid, and refused to let anybody touch him. They called County Animal Control
to take him.
His body language suggested that he had been abused and his overall condition proved much neglect, and the folks at the shelter had deemed him as non-adoptable because of his fear-based aggression. I asked them if I could have the dog if I could show that he wouldn't bite.
After much wheedling, and signing of a waiver...they cleared the other dogs out and let me and Kelie enter the pen. I got on one knee, and Kelie sat on the floor.
Much more afraid of me, he cowered and approached Kelie one painful step at a time while he kept his eye on me. He let me stroke him, but
trembled and showed a hint of his teeth. It took him nearly five minutes to make the 10-foot journey to her, and when she was able to touch him, he rolled over into her lap and whimpered...tail wagging.
He watched me closely, and finally let me stroke him without snarling...but his eyes still had terror in them.
I had to go to the shelter daily for a week before they'd agree to release him to me. I went at noon and again at 4:00 when Kelie went.
They agreed, and we were able to pick him up Monday after his neutering and vaccinations. We refused to wait until Tuesday, and picked him up at the vet's office at 6:00 PM Monday, December 2nd after a 45-minute through evening traffic, rather than wait until the next day at noon. We were desperate to get him out of that place, afraid that the German Shepherd mix that he shared the kennel with would hurt him while he was weak.
The initial hope in his eyes was fading by the end of the trial week, and we were afraid that he'd give up...or that the big Shepherd would sense his weakness and finish him off. He was still a little groggy when we got there, and when he saw us, he literally crumpled onto the floor at our feet and cried.
For several weeks, he sat in a corner and wouldn't approach us...and it took nearly 6 months before he stopped rolling onto his back when we approached him...eyes darting, tail tucked, and forelegs pulled up in front of his face in a defensive posture. We discovered that he's deaf as a result of untreated ear mites...and that he had been pretty badly mauled by one of two of the dogs that he was penned with at the shelter. The bites were infected and festered...and the vet hadn't even discovered it. We clipped the matted hair and treated the infections, and he healed quickly.
We moved to Davidson County in 2005. He now lives in the downstairs part of the house in his own space, and has a bed by the gas logs for his arthritic hips...even though he was only about 3 years old at the time... but sleeps on the couch..or in the bed as he pleases. One of the best dogs that I've ever known, he could be the poster child for rescue dogs. Three doses weekly of Glucosamine Condroitin, along with baby aspirin has very much improved his hips, and he bounds toward me when I go down to let him out for his exercise periods 3-4 times a day.
We named him "Tuff" because he was tough enough to endure what he had been through...and greets us with a smile and a furiously wagging tail whenever he sees us. Very deserving of his second chance, and very much worth the effort.
The real kicker to this story? The stray on US-52 disappeared on the same day that Tuff arrived at the shelter...November 18th.
Acording to the paperwork, Officer Lanier recorded his time of arrival at 10:30 that morning...the exact time that I left the house to go back and look for my stray after he didn't show up earlier that day. I continued to look for him, but he never came back to the onramp.
Do dogs have guardian angels? I think this one did...in the form of a little mongrel who got my attention and ultimately led me to my lost, frightened boy.