Do you ever wonder about the life your dog had before they came to you? I don't know anything about Junior from before he was in a GA gassing shelter. I am just so curious to find out who could have possibbly let him go..what he looked like as a puppy..just all this random stuff. Ughh. I wish there was a way.
For those with rescue dogs..
- Thread starter Amber
- Start date
When I worked at a shelter in Illinois I always wondered what their life was like as a puppy, as they grew up, where they came from, and how they ended up behind bars. Sometimes you know a little bit about their story. One pit bull was fought, electrocuted and dumped. You wonder what they could have done to deserve that... *shakes head*
Honestly, I don't have many questions about Morgan other than his heritage, as in what he is a mix of. He was only 10 weeks old when we got him, and we knew that his mother was dumped at the shelter while pregnant. Morgan's history before we got him was completely at the shelter.
My cats, though, I'd love to hear their story. They are litter mates, and their whole litter was found in a cardboard on the side of a VERY busy road. Everybody was adopted out, but then Whitty and Ticheli were returned to the shelter a couple weeks later. We know that their first adoptive owners had to move overseas... but why, and why did they adopt a pair of kittens just before moving... I don't know. Maybe I don't want to know.
Mostly, I want to know why anybody would dump a box of kittens on the side of the road... especially when they turned out to be really awesome cats!
My cats, though, I'd love to hear their story. They are litter mates, and their whole litter was found in a cardboard on the side of a VERY busy road. Everybody was adopted out, but then Whitty and Ticheli were returned to the shelter a couple weeks later. We know that their first adoptive owners had to move overseas... but why, and why did they adopt a pair of kittens just before moving... I don't know. Maybe I don't want to know.
Mostly, I want to know why anybody would dump a box of kittens on the side of the road... especially when they turned out to be really awesome cats!
I had my suspicions to the way Victor reacted to a very certain type of person. He had full blown melt downs at the sight of a large overweight man, especially in coveralls and having a bald head. I talked with the woman that saved him this weekend. She said that was a pretty good description of the man that cared for the animals in the animal control site he came from. He also has a real repulsion for cold concrete or tile. Considering he was 5 months old when i got him in April, that means he would have been locked up in our coldest month of the year. I think that explains a lot. My guess is he had not one shread of bedding. I wrote Connie tonight and asked her how long she had him because i was trying to put together a time line of his age from the time he was picked up as a stray to the time I found him. SHe had him for two weeks. Seeing the photographs of him when he first saw her, i knew he remembered. He looked so very sad. Going back the next day was good for him for he was more able to share his real personality with her. I don't think they ever forget what they went through. He had screaming nightmares for the first year, but we don't have that anymore. I know he knew about bubblegum, laser pointers, frisbees and fast food wrappers by the way he reacted to them when we first brought him in. He also was terrified of toddlers. So I think who had him first had children, and I don't think they watched them with the puppy. He was over stimulated and quick to anger. He also leaped away from any small child as quickly as he could.
Someone kissed Pepper right on her face a great deal as a puppy. I would be a zillion dollars on it. SHe is attracted to dark haired thin women when we go to Petsmart. Her tongue is already flapping every time she sees one. I don't think she was abused other than some leash popping. Somehow she must have been seperated and then she gave up on people all together. I also think she lived on a second story apt. She is very much wanting to go up the stairs to the one in this building. SHe always seems surprised when we don't go up. THat is all I can guess about her.
Someone kissed Pepper right on her face a great deal as a puppy. I would be a zillion dollars on it. SHe is attracted to dark haired thin women when we go to Petsmart. Her tongue is already flapping every time she sees one. I don't think she was abused other than some leash popping. Somehow she must have been seperated and then she gave up on people all together. I also think she lived on a second story apt. She is very much wanting to go up the stairs to the one in this building. SHe always seems surprised when we don't go up. THat is all I can guess about her.
Abby showed up at the shelter heavily pregnant, and knowing how to sit, speak, down, and was housebroken. Also, someone from a town almost forty minutes away recognized her and said "hey, is she from *town name*?" I looked her up in the computer, and said yes. They said "wow, someone came by our house asking if she was ours because they knew we had dogs..."
So yea, I wonder about her a lot... she's a really awesome dog.
So yea, I wonder about her a lot... she's a really awesome dog.
I wonder about Sawyer all the time and how someone could have dumped such an awesome dog. I really wish I knew what he looked like as a pup, his upbringing and all that. He's such a bombproof dog for the most part that either he has one of the best inherent temperaments ever, or someone really worked with him.
I've always said that it should be mandatory,that if you give up a dog you should have to provide baby pics.
What I do know is that for the first month that I had Saga, if you reached for her collar, she would hit the deck and shiver/cower. It makes me angry that somebody would give up such a completely awesome dog. On the other hand, if they hadn't I wouldnt have the other half of my heart.
What I do know is that for the first month that I had Saga, if you reached for her collar, she would hit the deck and shiver/cower. It makes me angry that somebody would give up such a completely awesome dog. On the other hand, if they hadn't I wouldnt have the other half of my heart.
Since Archie was already 10 or 11ish, I wonder where he was for those 10 years before he was found as a "Stray" (His shelter only took in strays, no Owner Surrenders... So it could have been his "Owners" who "found" him...). How could he have ended up there after 10 years, and nobody go looking for him?
All I know for certain with Meg is that she was an owner surrender. There is plenty more I can piece together with fair certainty. She had clearly never been indoors before she got to Vermont; I suspect from her behavior she lived tied out. I don't think she was ever mistreated in the traditional sense, but judging by her behavior when I got her, I don't think she was ever exposed to much of anything in the world. She had already had a litter of puppies at 18 months.
Baby pictures I would kill for
Baby pictures I would kill for
i totally understand why luce was "strayed" as a young adult lol eeevil red dog is eeevil. i do wish i had baby pictures of her. with those ears... i bet she was freaking hilarious.
mushroom was dumped and when his owner was located, he didn't want him back. i assume mushroom wasn't badass enough, but who knows.
i found out after harv died that he'd been a cruelty seizure. when i adopted him all they told me was that he'd been at the shelter for a year, adopted out, and returned due to divorce. nobody mentioned that he'd been at the shelter for a year after he'd been seized from the hellhole he'd been living in. he had a bunch of scars, but scars can happen for all sorts of reasons- i guess i always just kind of thought he'd been hit by a car at some point. he was very sound-sensitive, and he didn't like the camera, but other than that he was not especially wary of anything and he loved everybody. he was such a good boy. to have gone through what he did and come out of it still with such a solid, sound personality... that says so much about him.
mushroom was dumped and when his owner was located, he didn't want him back. i assume mushroom wasn't badass enough, but who knows.
i found out after harv died that he'd been a cruelty seizure. when i adopted him all they told me was that he'd been at the shelter for a year, adopted out, and returned due to divorce. nobody mentioned that he'd been at the shelter for a year after he'd been seized from the hellhole he'd been living in. he had a bunch of scars, but scars can happen for all sorts of reasons- i guess i always just kind of thought he'd been hit by a car at some point. he was very sound-sensitive, and he didn't like the camera, but other than that he was not especially wary of anything and he loved everybody. he was such a good boy. to have gone through what he did and come out of it still with such a solid, sound personality... that says so much about him.
Buster was only about 8 weeks when we found him. But who the hell dumps a puppy in a car park?!!
I often wonder about Elliot, he was 9 when we got him, he had a whole life before he came to us. He was a surrender because the owner was moving. I still don't know how someone left him, its so obvious he lives for his people. He even has a certain distressed meow he uses when he can't find us, its really sad. But he's got us forever now. All our dogs we've had since puppyhood but I do wonder if he thinks oneday we might actually just leave him behind somewhere. He hates being boarded and I wonder if its because it reminds him of the shelter and he thinks we might not come back.
I often wonder about Elliot, he was 9 when we got him, he had a whole life before he came to us. He was a surrender because the owner was moving. I still don't know how someone left him, its so obvious he lives for his people. He even has a certain distressed meow he uses when he can't find us, its really sad. But he's got us forever now. All our dogs we've had since puppyhood but I do wonder if he thinks oneday we might actually just leave him behind somewhere. He hates being boarded and I wonder if its because it reminds him of the shelter and he thinks we might not come back.
Max was only four months old when we got him and the rescue knew pretty much his whole story. Accidental litter dumped at the MSPCA, adopted out. Returned for being nippy and over excited, given to shar-pei rescue, given to us.
What I'd really like are pictures of his siblings, to know if they're alive, that sort of thing.
What I'd really like are pictures of his siblings, to know if they're alive, that sort of thing.
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2009
- Messages
- 469
- Likes
- 0
- Points
- 0
Lucky is our bluetick/beagle mix I brought home off the side of the road last summer. She had on a faded orange hunting collar so someone was probably hunting with her and she got lost at some point. But she must have had a good life. She acts like someone had treated her well and taken care of her. Already spayed, very housebroken, knows no, stay and sit. She always waits to come in the house until she is called, and LOVES LOVES kids. She obviously was taken care of, why she ended up on the streets I'm not sure. I do wish she could talk.
Monday was a Hurricane Katrina rescue from New Orleans. Local shelters sent a convoy and brought back more than 200 dogs. There were crates EVERYWHERE! Monday was still with her two sisters; she was used to being handled and had no issues, so I think she must have been well treated.
Katie spent almost a year crated on a back patio, rarely let out and often yelled at by the young men who lived in the house. She spent almost a year with her foster mom. She is still none too fond of college-age men, but she's not hand-shy or aggressive in any way. Katie is a Zen dog: calm, tolerant, balanced. Oh, yes, and beautiful.
Katie spent almost a year crated on a back patio, rarely let out and often yelled at by the young men who lived in the house. She spent almost a year with her foster mom. She is still none too fond of college-age men, but she's not hand-shy or aggressive in any way. Katie is a Zen dog: calm, tolerant, balanced. Oh, yes, and beautiful.
Blaze is no "rescue" at all. But he is a pet store puppy. And I do always wonder, where exactly did he come from. what exactly is IN him, its clearly no purebred collie or sheltie. probablya mix of the 2. How old was he really when I got him (I was told almost 9 weeks, but thats doubtful to me). Could just be him, and probably is as he was so young. but he is deathly afraid of men, espeacially bearded men with deep vocies. could be somthing from his past, might not be though too. he is and has been heavily socialized since being with us. has never been beat ect. so who knows what his deal is.