The Forgotten Ones

Boarded up in a dog house with her puppies, starved and abandoned, used as a bait or fight dog, human aggressive, dog aggressive, emaciated, heartworm positive, neglected, unwanted....Looking down a list of dogs at RRR almost every one could have one of these labels attached next to their name.

Sometimes, even though a dog 'looks' fine and is healthy, it's the invisible scars that are the hardest to heal.  We have dealt with our fair share of those too.  I often compare these dogs to Soldiers who return with PTSD and TBI.  On the outside, they 'look' fine.  On the inside, they are anything but.

It is easy to forget the scars that don't adorn ones body but instead their mind.  Many of the dogs we rehabilitate, even once they are back to health, are still fighting a long and hard road to recovery.  We have had great success rehabbing dogs others have given up on, but it definitely is not easy and I know, there will be a dog we cannot save.

What is it that makes these dogs this way?  How does a dog who was once a sweet puppy become a 'monster'?  Usually, the answer is bad owners.  Very rarely, it can be a genetic trait which is brought out by a bad owner.  Sometimes, it's lack of training and sometimes it's just a set of circumstances the dog is living in that just don't fit.  Those aren't the bad owners, they are just the owners who may not understand what that particular dog needs or how to be a strong enough leader to them.

When I look around every day, I see these faces with scars (visible and invisible) for whom we were their only hope.  In every one of the dogs here, there is beauty.  The sad part is, not everyone may see it.

For example, to many people 'Dee' is 'just another black pit bull needing a home' but to us, Dee is a survivor.  Dee and her puppies were seized from a neglectful, awful owner who boarded her and her puppies INSIDE her dog house with no food or water, and still attached to the chain she led most of her life on.  She landed in the local rabies control facility which is a VERY high kill shelter that euth's usually twice a week for space.  Her puppies were saved by a rescue, but Dee was left behind with no interest from anyone wanting to save her.  We stepped up.  When we pulled Dee, she was vetted the next day and we discovered she had pyometra, a potentially life threatening infection of her uterus.  Though severely underweight and high heartworm positive, Dee had to undergo emergency surgery to have any chance at life.  We weren't sure she would make it through and I questioned our vet about his thoughts on if she would make it.  I remember his answer to me too.  He said, 'Look at this dog and all she's been through.  A lot of other dogs would have been long gone already but she's a fighter.  If she made it through that, she'll make it through this'.  Sure enough, the next day Dee emerged from surgery no worse for the wear and came home to us the day after.  She has learned to play, love and befriend other dogs.  She is a survivor.  I sometimes see in her eyes that she thinks about her past.  I know that some people say dogs can't or don't, but I feel different.  I know she does.  However, that thoughtful sad look on her face lasts for only a moment and soon she is back to playing and having fun or cuddling up on the couch.  Dee deserves her own family, though she is so much a part of ours.  She deserves someone to pay attention to only her, to love only her, to spend all of their free hours with only her.  However, we also know that the chances of Dee finding a home while still undergoing heartworm treatment, and being black and a pit bull, are not high.  Still we hold out hope that one day, she will have a family that will be her own and treat her the way she deserves to be treated.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that some of the dogs at RRR may not be 'beautiful' or 'special' by others standards, but they are to us.  Some have faces only a mother could love, and I do and I know someday, someone else will fall in love with some of them too.  As many scars as they may have from their lives before or as 'scary' as they may look to some, to me, watching these forgotten ones happy and playing is a feeling I just cannot explain.

Then, I see dogs like Soldier, who is a beautiful, physically healthy young pit bull.  He will be coming this week for his rehab to begin.  Soldier appears to have never missed a meal.  He is a happy, people loving, wonderful dog who is gorgeous in every physical way.  To most people, he 'looks' fine.  However, because of Soldier's behavior, it is believed he was raised and trained to be a fight dog and this prevents him from having a normal life and interacting normally with other dogs.  Some people don't feel that Soldiers need is as 'urgent' because he looks okay.  However, Soldier was almost put to sleep because of his invisible scars and has no chance at a normal life, in a normal family, until those scars are healed.

While we often pull or save dogs that look physically bad, no one should misunderstand that the need is just as urgent for the ones whose scars don't show.  They stand just as small a chance at a happily ever after as the emaciated dog in a shelter that people fear to adopt because of the potential need for care and in the wrong hands, they can be deadly until trained, to not only others but to themselves as well.  They need us just as much since there are not many rescues who can or will rehabilitate dogs with severe behavioral problems.

Every dog here deserves a chance.  They deserve the best possible.  They deserve having someone look at them and find the beauty beneath the surface.  It is my hope, that someday, all of them will find their happily ever after.  Maybe, for a dog here, that happily ever after could be you.

Until next time,
Nicole