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Best Family Pets, Rescue-Dogs
MEET
JAKE & LIBBY; Our Rescue-Dogs
Rescue-dogs
can be the best choice for great
family pets. So often, through no fault of their own, they
have been abandoned on the street or dumped in a shelter.
They have so much love to give and deserve so much
in return.
Two of the most frustrating, curious, stubborn,
spoiled and totally wonderful
creatures entered our life just about seven years ago. New
additions to our family of rescue- dogs.
Libby joined us first. Our
business UPS driver told us about her. Another business owner
had
witnessed her being thrown out of a car. She kept attempting
to
get back into the car (Such Loyalty!). Angered
because she
would not take the none-too-subtle hint to leave, the man
proceeded to try to back over her. Not sure how the business
owner angel intervened but he ended up saving her. He took
her to
his Vet. and had her spayed. Her choker chain was so tight,
it
was embedded into the muscle of her neck and had to be surgically
removed.
We
named her Liberty Belle because it fit the freedom she now had.
She is such a joy! In spite of her horrible
beginnings, she
is such a happy loving dog. She loves toys, unlimited hugs
and an
assortment of soft furniture to lay on as she chooses. It
took
her a while to trust Dan but once she did she was hopelessly in love.
The only reminder of her ordeal is the fact that she still,
after
seven years, doesn't like feet anywhere near her. She
probably
associates them with kicking. It is such a pleasure to watch
her
sleep peacefully as in this picture; not worrying about anything.
That's as it should be for all animals.
Jake joined our family about a week later.
We arrived at our business early one morning and Jake was
lying
on the front lawn. Dan called him, thinking he would probably
just take off but he came right up to him. Since we had eight
rescue-dogs at the time and our daughter Tina only had one, we
nominated her
to be Jake's new mom. So, she took him home. But,
not for
long.
Several hours after arriving in Tina's home we received a
plaintive phone call. "Mom, you have to come get this dog.
He has lifted his leg on every wall in my house and shows no
signs of stopping!" He was clearly marking his territory to
let
Tina's Golden Retriever know that he was the new Alpha dog in the
house. And with eight rescue dogs in our house, we were sure
that he
would turn into a veritable urine factory.
Imagine our
surprise when he did not lift his leg even once in our home that night
nor any night or day since that time seven years ago. It was
like
he knew he was home. He immediately formed an unbelievably
close
bond with Dan that has not lessened a bit. But, I'm getting a
bit
ahead here. Rationally, Dan felt that we could not keep him
and
after advertising in the classifieds that we had found him and
receiving no response, we spent a full week contacting rescue groups in
an attempt to place him. We finally found someone that agreed
to
take him but after spending a few minutes in the very chaotic
environment, Jake looked up at him with his gorgeous, melting brown
eyes, leaned into him and Dan caved. "We've decided to keep
him."
Dan announced. What a commitment!
Jake, whose official given name is Jacob Montel Abercrombie
Fisher, suffered from
EXTREME separation anxiety anytime Dan was out of eye site.
We
have some very mangled doors and walls to prove it. As
quickly as
we repaired them, he again destroyed them. Three months of
intensive dog training classes accomplished little. We tried
dog
training collars, dog cages and dog psychology. These things
usually help most dogs greatly but there is always the
exception
and Jake chose to be that exception.
We ended up taking
Jake to work with us each day and not going places much when we were
home unless a family member volunteered to dog-sit. He did
improve some over time as he became more secure of our return.
We
now can leave him for eight hours or so at a time.
It is amazing
that he had the security to ask so much of us considering what he
probably came from. His paw pads were quite worn for a young
dog
and he had scars on parts of his body. The hardest workout
those
paws now get is when he runs to greet his dad, jumps on the
bed
or sofa or chases his brothers and sisters around the yard.
Ah, a
dog's life!
 REMEMBER!
Some of the
best things (or creatures) to enter your life, are the unplanned ones.
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"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his
life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the
last
beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." -
Unknown
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