My new dog - A RANT!!!

[donna723]

Star, you better not read any further! I know how you are about these things - me too! Wouldn't want you heading for Tennessee with a baseball bat! This is another reason why I sometimes like animals a lot better than people!

I brought a new little boy Boston to my house last night - he's a 'temp'. I'm sort of his foster mom till next Saturday. Last Sunday someone on my dog board posted a link to a Petfinder listing about a little boy Boston in a kill shelter - in MY home town! Needless to say, I spent all day Sunday and most of Monday emailing and making phone calls. Turns out that our little local shelter is so over run with dogs that the volunteers and shelter workers have been taking as many of them as they can manage home with them! Luckily, he wasn't actually in the shelter but at the home of one of the workers. And yesterday afternoon I met the volunteer from the Humane Society, paid the adoption fee, and took this sweet little boy home with me!

They're been calling him "Trace". They called him that because about three weeks ago he was found wandering in the Natchez Trace State Park and turned over to the Humane Society. No one has claimed him and no one has been looking for him. When he was found, the skin on the pads of his feet was peeled back and raw ... they think he had been tossed from a moving car and hit the pavement hard! He had a horrific eye injury that was so severe that he was already sick from it and would have died if it wasn't treated. He was taken to the vet who said it was the worst eye injury he had ever seen. His eye couldn't be saved and had to be removed. It's closed with big ugly wire 'stitches' now. He almost died from the anesthesia - Bostons sometimes have problems with it, but he pulled through. He was also neutered, heart worm tested, wormed and got all his shots. His little feet were treated and he was given big doses of antibiotics. He's underweight from not eating for so long, but he'll gain it back in time. And yesterday he came to live with me for a while. Now he has his own little crate to sleep in, a soft new blanket, a collar and leash and some toys of his own.

This is an absolutely beautiful little dog! Someone paid a lot of money for this little guy! He feels much better now and he's been zipping through my house playing and having a really good time. He's a tiny little boy, not over 15 pounds. He certainly knows what to do with toys. And he walks nicely on a leash and so far he appears to be housebroken. He doesn't have as many 'issues' as I figured he would after all he's been through. The only thing I've noticed is that if you reach toward his head to pet him he cringes, but then when he sees that you aren't going to hurt him, he relaxes. He's a total little love, such a sweet boy, very gentle, and just wants to be played with and loved. And he has all of the Boston goofiness genes. Next Saturday morning we're going to the vet to have his stitches out and pick up his medical records. Then Saturday afternoon we're driving to a town 30 miles away to meet a lady from one of the Boston Terrier rescue groups who will help him find his forever family. She said they already had one family who is very interestred in him. The rescue groups are very selective and screen the applicants very thoroughly, even make home visits and get vet refeences, so I know he will find the good, loving family he deserves. It will kill me to give him up. It will break my heart but I just can not handle or afford to care for four dogs - I'm pushing the limits with my three. And he deserves to have a family all his own.

But here comes the rant ... HOW COULD SOMEONE DO THAT TO THAT BEAUTIFUL, HELPLESS, TINY LITTLE DOG!!! What kind of an inhuman monster could just toss him from a moving car like he was garbage and then just drive off and leave him there to die? I can't even imagine the pain he was in or how afraid he must have been. Makes me sick to think about it! Animal abuse should be A FELONY, not a slap on the wrist! I told the Humane Society volunteer that I don't think I could ever do what they do! I simply could not deal with the anger that I would feel towards anyone who could do something like that to an animal! Every time I look at that sweet beautiful little guy with big, ugly stitches where his right eye used to be, it just makes me want to cry! If they didn't want him, they could have turned him over to rescue. Or they could have taken him to a shelter. At least he'd still have his eye! But I think maybe I'm more upset over it than he is ... he seems to be coping very nicely. OK - rant over. I'm off my soapbox. You can resume your previous activities. I'm done now.

 

[flutterby]

I'm right with you on that one. It should be a felony. Period.

Poor little guy. I'm glad he fell into the hands of all the right people. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had a chance.

 

[Hound dog]

Yup. Me and the endless stream of stays that run thru my house agree whole heartedly.

Glad you were able to make this guys life more pleasant until he finds his forever home.

Hugs

 

[Fran]

Donna, I don't get it either. I agree animal abuse or neglect should be a felony. The idea that you get a cute puppy for christmas and then decide it's too big or too much work so you dump them is so absolutely souless.
I get a lot of young girls who just looooooooovvvve my pretty white pyrs and ask about them. I tell them that it is a lot of work just grooming them and making sure I do right by them. They are breathing living beings and should be treated in a humane way. Decent food, space to roam, stimulation and a family to care. My first two were bought, then turned into rescue then adopted and returned to rescue and sat on a farm for over 6 months because they needed to be together. People do stupid things. Why adopt a pyr then complain they are too big and need exercise? Get a stuffed animal for goodness sakes.

Those that intentionally hurt or injure an animal will have it returned to them in the next chapter in their lives. Bad energy put out there will return in other ways.
My soapbox is pretty high too. Don't get me started on neglect of children let alone abuse.
Well, I better stop before I work myself up into a lather.
It's great that you are caring for the sweet guy. He needs that love to grow strong and resiliant.

 

[jal]

Donna - how wonderful for you to step in and help this little guy to heal in a loving enviroment. It makes me absolutely sick to know that human beings are capable of this type of barbaric behavior towards poor defensless animals. I hope he finds the best forever home ever!

 

[donna723]

Fran, I agree with you completely. So many people buy a puppy because it's cute but they do absolutely no research on the breed they're buying and have no idea what to expect. People buy long-haired dogs and then complain that they shed and require a lot of grooming. They do that with Bostons all the time too. People complain that they're "hyper" and have so much energy. Or they complain that they're gassy, they snore, snort and grunt. Yes, they do! Because they're Bostons and Bostons do that!

I was discussing the "whys" with one of the rescue people. He told me that it's also very common for a lot of abusive men to make threats against a woman's pets as another way of controlling her. He's heard of men who have threatened to throw their wife's or girlfriend's dog out of a moving car, and some have actually done it - could be what happened with this little one.

 

[Star*]

Donna,

I have been a member of the ASPCA since I was 10 years old. When we began volunteering as children our jobs were pretty kid-oriented. Open papers, stack them, wash dog bowls, dry them. As you do your time in the organization you get larger responsibilities. As you get larger responsibilities you realize the more you know the human race the less you like the majority of them.

I can come off as a very blunt person at times but after witnessing the atrocities I have with animals? I have no patience left for cruel or ignorant people. I think of your little fella, I think of our Princess Pootie, or that chain dog doctor - then I think of how much money I do not have and what I would do if I did have. I can't have four dogs either, and even if I could? It's not fair for me to work and try to pay attention to four fur kids. Three spreads my time very thin, but we manage 1 hour of play a day nearly every day. Fourth as a foster really is pushing it so I know exactly what you mean.

I believe very much there is a special place in heaven for people who abuse and hurt others. Without getting too ugly I'd want to belive it's like the rest of us are in Disney World with an American Express Card and no physical injuries and carte blanche and enjoying our familes and friends with no end in sight and people that are abusive are in a 1964 Corvair in 158 degree heat, with the heater stuck on, cracked vinyl seats,short shorts, no shirts, no wind, the widows won't go down, 10 of their best friends, complaining about life, who had tacos and beans for dinner the night before ,no bath for a month with rotted teeth are sitting in there with them wishing for Rock and Roll on the Radio and it's the Sound of Music weekend...when someone comes up and drops a hornets nest in the car, bangs on the hood, the horn gets stuck and there's not a bathroom for a hundred an thirty thousand miles.

Then they have to sit there and watch the rest of us enjoying life while theirs flashes before them and everyone and everything they've abused walks by and says "I forgive you." then goes on with their life.

Something like that.

But let ME catch you abusing a dog or innocent on my watch? Hornets will seem like raindrops.

 

[donna723]

Star, I think you've got it!

We've had a little change of plans. The lady from the rescue emailed me and asked if we could meet next Saturday instead of this Saturday - she has three adoptions to finalize that day and can't do it. Which means that I will have him for another week. The longer I have him, the more in love with him I will be and the harder it will be to hand him over! As much as I would like to keep him, like Star said, there just aren't enough hours in the day to give them all the attention they need.

 

[flutterby]

He told me that it's also very common for a lot of abusive men to make threats against a woman's pets as another way of controlling her. He's heard of men who have threatened to throw their wife's or girlfriend's dog out of a moving car, and some have actually done it - could be what happened with this little one.

A guy here stabbed and kicked his wife/girlfriend's (can't remember) dog almost to death. It was all over the news. And yep, he was abusive towards her also.

They go hand in hand. If someone can be that cruel to an innocent creature, they'll have no qualms doing it to a child, a spouse, mentally ill, etc.

I say we put these people under the jailhouse. A $500 fine and community service...that's an insult.

 

[donna723]

Some of them do it as a way of controlling their wife/girlfriend ... "Do what I say or I will hurt your dog"! They know exactly how to threaten what is most important to her to ensure her compliance!

That's what doesn't add up with this little Boston. Somebody spent quite a bit of money to buy him because he's a very nice one. And somebody took the time to housebreak him and teach him manners and how to walk nicely on a leash. Somebody paid a lot of attention to him and bought him toys to play with and threw a ball for him to chase. You can tell that he's been well cared for. But then somebody took him out to a huge State Park, threw him out of a moving car, and left him there injured to die!

I'll never know what really happened to him but it just doesn't add up to me - unless it was a situation like that or maybe he was stolen and then disposed of the easy way.

 

[Fran]

You are doing a good thing Donna.

 

[Star*]

Donna,

I've thought about you and Eyegore all day long. (my pet name for your lovely little Frankenterrier) I was calling him Wink - but with that eye? Eyegore in my heart. I just see the steel stitches and the curled tongue and I would be a blob...

YOU are a lovely person to look past the things he is missing and see all that he has to give. I don't think it will be as hard for you to let this one go somehow. He's such a lovely soul isn't he? I think it was destiny that he came to your home. Respite for him with you gave you respite. Neat.