Riley - his litter was found on the side of a rural road by a co-worker's daughter. She and her boyfriend were able to catch 3 pups (out of 5); then couldn't find the remaining 2. Co-worker thought they had homes for all 3 but that fell through for Riley and his sister. Email went around work, daughter brought the puppies in and I chose Riley. He was probably around 7 wks old when he was found, I took him home a week later. Hard to believe it's been five years.
Mick and
Murph kinda ran away from their first home (about a mile down the road). Family had the mother (a black setter type mix) and I was told whenever she disappeared, they knew she was having a litter somewhere. Sometimes the pups survived, sometimes they didn't.
Murph and Mick were the survivors of their litter, left to do as they pleased after a failed attempt to housebreak them and fed if they were around.
We thought they were strays when they first showed up, being extremely wary and cautious. After awhile Mick and Murph camped out by our gate before we finally let them inside the fence. They liked to chase cars and I didn't want to find them hit one day. The woman who owned their mother saw me walking Mick and Murph a couple of weeks later, claimed them, then called within a half hour and asked if I wanted to keep them. I said yes. That was 2005 and they were about 2 yrs. old.
Past dogs:
Patch: Saw her walking down the road the same year we bought our property. We were fencing the front line, she sauntered by, then came back to watch us. Called her, she crept over, collapsed into my lap and started talking. She was almost a year old. Patch was my heart dog, could take her anywhere and she got along with all dogs and cats. She was great with puppies/young dogs; teaching them doggy manners without getting harsh or going overboard. She was also a 'snob'; she knew dog people when she saw them! History unknown other than she hated teenage boys and was deathly afraid of basement stairs.
Sam: Four years after acquiring Patch, Mom called one day and told us Patch was in the paper as Pet of the Week at the Humane Society. Sure enough, her 'twin' was up for adoption. Went to meet him and found he was from the same area as Patch, same age as Patch, but taken from a hoarder who had 50 dogs. We adopted him and found he was dog aggressive (although never with Patch), cat aggressive, and not house-broken. His redeeming quality, he LOVED people (Patch was less than friendly with the general public). Both he and Patch were excellent mousers/ratters.
Emily: Neighbor found her pregnant mother (purebred Rottie) and offered us one of the pups. We took Emily (the runt) when she was 8 wks and she grew to be the biggest one of the litter and my velcro dog.
Holly: People who owned the boarding barn where we kept our horses found her on vacation. They were told she was a stray, hanging around the campground. They took her home but wound up keeping her tied when she kept leading their other dogs off the property, hunting. They didn't want to keep her chained for the rest of her life so we agreed to take her since we were moving to our place and had a couple of acres fenced for the dogs. She was maybe two or three years old.
Robbie: He was an outdoor dog, lived down the road about 1/4 mile. His first owners adopted him when he was around one. Eight or nine years later, they moved away and left him to a neighbor. That neighbor also moved, (2 or 3 years later), leaving him to the next person who bought the house. A few years later, that person moved, leaving him to the next person. That person stuck him in a 10 x 10 pen with a young Chow mix. Robbie finally dug out and when we saw him, super skinny and limping down the road toward his original home, we took him. He was nearly 14 by that time, and lived another 5 years with us. The person who stuck him in the pen didn't want him back.
Abbey Road: Found on the side of a rural highway, running up to whatever car slowed down to miss her, she was maybe a year old. No clue about past history.
