Forum Rescue Dogs

[Flopsy]

In light of the recent heartwarming story about RaceThe Sweeper's adoption of a border collie I thought it might be nice to share stories of our forum rescue dogs who have found their forever homes. I'll start the ball rolling.

We have had several rescue dogs, our last one was put to sleep last January and it broke my heart. He was the best dog ever (but then I would say that!!).

Unable to go dog free we adopted Max from FSTBC last January. He was then an 18 mths old Border Collie and in a terrible state. You could see his pelvis and ribs he was so massively underweight. He was terrified and sat on his tail with his ears laid back. But he wanted to be loved and was a little bundle of energy trying to wag his tail from between his legs as he sat on it. He'd been abused but it wasn't known how much. Just that he had lived with three Rotties that had bullied him. He'd been sold on the internet. Bought by a couple who had him for a week and then sold him on the internet again, saying he was depressed and needed to be put to sleep. A kind lady bought him and gave him to the FSTBC. He had a testicle stuck up high inside him and must have been in pain. He was massively underweight. The vet said he had no muscles and his joints were as soft as a puppies (no exercise). He didn't know a single command and the the first thing he did was jumpup on me and try and take food out of my mouth as I was eating.

A year later he is in peak fitness (see my profile pic). He goes to agility training, which he loves, and the instructor thinks he could be a competition dog. He is very loving and loves to run on the fells with us. You can now hold a sausage under his nose and he won't touch it unti you give the command. He rarely sits on his tail, which he holds high and wags constantly, and his ears are usually up and alert. He fur is shiny black (with nawty spots!) and I swear he smiles most of the time.

It's not been plain sailing. His health took six months to get under control. It was tragic to see him run and hide behind the sofa when we got a curtain pole down. He was shaking. He still sometimes bolts if we move our feet to quickly to the floor from the sofa. He is obviously working stock and will chase anything given half the chance and we still can't get him to walk nicely on a lead.

But he is bonkers and utterly happy. Our Mad Max who has found his forever home! :thumbup:

[Flopsy]

Either no one on the forum has a rescue dog or the forum thinks it's a crap thread. I suspect the latter!!!

Ah well. I thought it was a good idea. I'll get me coat..........

[Stolly]

Haha. Flopsy I don't have a rescue dog (don't ffs tell longdogs!) and got my border collie Harry as a pup from a local farmer. I therefore can't join in

[Dynamo Dan]

I rescued my pup Buster from Manchester Dogs Home a couple of years ago now. When we got him he was a bit thin, but in good condition.

Apparently they found him in Oldham stray and full of mange. His tail was docked, but he's a happy lad who rarely puts his tail between his legs and loves people.

He's a Jack Russell, but not yappy or fat he's very muscular almost staffy like - most importantly he loves fell running!!

Buster isn't perfect I don't think we'll ever get him to stop pulling (believe me we've tried) and he does like to jump, but he's a firm favourite in our house and in the Royal on Thursday night!

[RaceTheSweeper]

Oh no!!! Not crap it's brilliant. This is the first time I've seen the thread and I looked at new posts loads yesterday! I thinks it's a great idea and will be updating my bit on Winnie later when I get home from work :thumbup:

[Stagger]

Check this out Flopsy

This is where he came from,

http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showt...t=forum+mascot

I will up date later when I have a couple of minutes.

[PaulE]

I've got a rescue dog, nearly 10 years old now and we've had her for 8 of those. Roxy came from a litter which had been abandoned and found by the RSPCA. She'd been adopted as a pup but brought back for some reason after a short while. Then she was adopted again after 6 months but they brought her back as she was over active and an "escape artist" (we soon found out how much!).

After another year and a bit in various RSPCA centers, a pair of fools (me and Mrs E) adopted her - mostly because she looks like the dog Jen had when she was young and Roxy liked the smell of the dirty cycling kit in the back of my car! Roxy is a black lab/retriever/Alsatian?/pointer?/god only knows what cross.

Got her home, and the first thing she did was to slip her lead, run down the canal towpath with me in close pursuit on my bike and get in a woofing match with a bigger dog.

A few days later, it turns out she can leap 5' fences with ease, and get over 7' ones if there is another one at right angles to "bounce" off! Made slightly scarier because the 5' fence at the bottom of our then garden had a fair bit bigger drop to a bowling green on the other side.

Plenty of escapes later we realised she'll be on a lead for a long time! Particularly when the obedience trainer said she was beyond help!
We've had lots of good times though: long walks, runs on the fells (sadly cut short now by poorly back legs from the Lab in her), backpacking trips, bike rides, checkpointing at fell races, pulling kids up hills while supervising Duke of Edinburgh trips, digging holes and, most recently, being about the best and most friendly companion a 2 year old manic toddler could hope for.

All in all, I'm glad we took the risk on a dog nobody else wanted. Still can't let her run free except in a large field with a trailing length of cord but none of us particularly mind. As an aside, make sure you get pet insurance if you get a dog! Within a week, Roxy had managed to break one of her 4 canine teeth - the operation to sort it would have cost about a grand otherwise! then she's needed a few lumps removing and opening up from tail to chest when she got about an a4 sized bit of a "chew proof" waterproof dog bed cover stuck in her large intestine!

[Flopsy]

A few days later, it turns out she can leap 5' fences with ease, and get over 7' ones if there is another one at right angles to "bounce" off! Made slightly scarier because the 5' fence at the bottom of our then garden had a fair bit bigger drop to a bowling green on the other side.

As an aside, make sure you get pet insurance if you get a dog! Within a week, Roxy had managed to break one of her 4 canine teeth - the operation to sort it would have cost about a grand otherwise! then she's needed a few lumps removing and opening up from tail to chest when she got about an a4 sized bit of a "chew proof" waterproof dog bed cover stuck in her large intestine!

Tell me about it. Max can leap 6ft walls. We had 3 ft walls around our garden. However, he won't jump fences or anything that isn't solid and so we stuck some trellis up on top of the walls and now he can have the run of the garden! Still have a sign up on the gate though asking poeple to shut the gate though as he'll bolt if he sees it open.

You don't have to tell me about pet insurance. Our last rescue dog had multiple health problems and every year we maxed out his £4000 a year limit on vet bills and medications. Pet Plan every time for us. More expensive than most but they insure for life and never quibble on paying out.

[Longdogs]

It's a great thread Flopsy.. just haven't had time to reply cos i've got 4 and it'll take ages!

Does anyone want a nice tabby cat? It was dumped at my work, it's a male approx 1y. Was neutered on wed, very healthy. I've got him in my house at the moment because he was going to be put down, but i can't keep him with the dogs it's too stressful for him. He is friendly and doesn't run when he sees the dogs , could easily live with a dog as long as not the cat-killing type that some of mine are....

[MickTor]

I'l add to this thread later Flopsy. Got a rescue staffy whos bonkers barkin maaad!!