I have the saddest story with hopefully a happy ending. In short, we believe our garbage man dumped on of his hounds off at our home since rabbit season was finished and he didn't want to continue to have to feed the dog. This is a typical practice for hunters in our area who use their dogs for hunting then just discard them like they're worthless. It enrages me! Anyway, when the garbage man came to pick up the trash yesterday, the dog immediately went to him, jumping on him and licking him. I found this odd as we couldn't get but about 2' from the dog. The garbage man said it was his dog and he got lost on the last hunt. I find it awfully strange that the dog ended up at our home. Anyway, he said he didn't want the dog, that he was going to leave him in the woods. I told him no he wasn't, that we would take the dog and give it a good home. I immediately noticed the dog had 3 gunshot wounds in his neck. We had not noticed before because he would not let us get near him. I immediately picked the dog up and brought him to the vet. His previous owner NEVER had him vet checked, no shots and not neutered. We found out he has roundworms and heartworms and they are treating him for that and the gunshot wounds. The vet says he otherwise looks healthy and hopefully will make it through the heartworm treatment. I'm asking for prayers for little "Blue". He will have a good life with us, something he's never had I'm sure. Now the questions, of course I'm wanting to buy him some toys and chew bones, which I'm sure he's never had. He's about 4 years old. Do you think he can learn to play? Also, he finally let us touch him when he saw his owner, and is a sweet loving dog. He will be free to roam in our one acre fenced yard and I'm going to get him a nice dog house that I will put on our back covered porch. We are also getting him neutered after the heartworm treatment. I just don't know how people can be so cruel and heartless to animals! I posted Blues pic in my profile as I couldn't figure out how to do here. Will keep you all posted and if anyone has any recommendations on hound dog care, please advise! Again, this is a hunting dog so I'm not sure if that changes a dog or not?