[casey]

While working on matching Katrina dogs with their owners I realized how sad the conditions are for many dogs in the south. We decided to adopt a dog from a rescue to make room for a Katrina dog. We took a special needs senior. It was the best match we could have found. We picked him up and he was adjusted in about 5 minutes. Great with the other dogs, fine with cats, and just glanced at the rabbits. He has barked once in a year and a half. He was defending his sister from a husky. We call him " our perfect child". He worked out so well we adopted another female senior.


Anyone else with a happy ending?

[ssg II]

When we finally got our house and fenced in the yard, we started looking for a large breed shelter dog. The local Humane Society has a few pictures of their adoptees in the paper every week and I had seen these two, but didn't think anymore about it because they were small dogs.

After umpteen visits to our & the two adjacent counties, we took one last look at our local shelter. We couldn't find a dog that we really felt we wanted, although each visit broke my heart, because I wanted to take THEM ALL home.

We were getting ready to leave & I asked the volunteer what happened to the little brother & sister dogs that were in the paper. He said, oh, they're in the cat room. And there they were: totally petrified by this giant hissing cat and the fact that the previous owners had dumped them in a parking lot.

Needless to say, they've been our babies since then. They are the best, smartest and most loving dogs, yet with that stubborn terrier personality. When we'd imagined the perfect dog for us, it was one, not two, but, by some twist of fate or whatever you'd call it, I remembered their picture in the paper and the rest is history.

Yes, a VERY happy story!

[BrianH]

A local (45 mins away) shelter in Dalhart Texas has a no terminate policy. So my wife really really really really really (i could go on!) wanted a Great Pyrenese. Anyway, two of the volunteers went on a trip and saw one tied to the fence on the highway, the took note and 8 hrs later came back home and it was still tehre so they took home. The thing is they didnt know the breed and fed and fed him and it cost a fortune to keep. He got real big. So they kept him at home anyway, just to give him more room

So we called the a month after they got him, long story short we got him 45 mins later.He had many issues. Was afraid of men, loud noises, guns, other dogs, everything. Only took me about 3 weeks to wean all the issues except the gun and loud noise fear. My son used to sleep on him when we brought him inside it was so cute, he was the PERFECT dog in every way. He did get run over on Jan 1st 06 but i loved evrey min of having him.

[cleosmom]

Both of mine are rescues. Cleo is now a 10 year old Border Collie mix. The original owner took her to a vet up north to be put down because "she was the last one and no on wanted her" . Before us she'd been placed once before to some idiot who could not understand how she could be deemed as housebroken when he fed her a diet of hot dogs, chili, hamburger, you name it She's my heart dog, the only times she's ever soiled in our home was when her allergies were acting up and she'd no other choice. She was a year and a half when we got her. When she barks, there is a reason!

Tony, our five year old male Border Collie mix was found in a county north of us Christmas Eve of 2002, (coincidentally? while we were closing on our home, had an apt. before) he was on a chain, no food, water or shelter and literally frozen to the ground. The vet did not think he would have made it one more night. He was our housewarming to gift to ourselves, I still think Cleo wonders when he's leaving LOL We moved in on Dec. 31 and he moved in shortly thereafter and is now five years old.

Included pictures are of both, Cleo is dong the agility and Tony has the toy in his mouth

[woofenstein]

My dog is a New Orleans dog too!!!
She's not a Katrina dog, since she's only a year old and was born after the Hurricane, but we found her there! My boyfriend and I went down to NOLA with some other students from our college and did rebuilding for a couple months,and where we lived--next to train tracks--there were sooo many packs of dogs. It was very sad [but a little funny to see such motley groups of dogs--pitbulls and golden retrievers hanging out with little frou frou toy poodles and terriers and running across the tracks together].

She was sleeping in a pizza box in one of the many piles of garbage down there . She was only 2 months old, TINY and sleepy with huge paws, but full of worms and days away from death. She had a broken leg to boot. Everyone fell in love with her but we were the only ones who could take her and so we gladly did, and drove all the way back to NY with this gorgeous, mild-mannered pup. I'm so glad to have Turbodog(yes...we named her after beer).

ACTUALLY, funny story about the beer thing...Turbodog is an Abita beer, a microbrew made in Abita Springs, an hour or so from New Orleans. Abita is THE beer of New Orleans. My friends and I really wanted to go on a brewery tour, but couldn't find anyone to watch the dog (this was before crate training) so we brought her along in hopes that they'd let her into the factory (fear not...I was gonna stay outside with her if they didn't). Well, they couldn't resist. I mean, the dog is named after their most popular beer.

A pic of Turbo (also in the "Is It Gonna Be Difficult??" thread):


And I'm so happy to have come across this thread.

(lol, I still can't figure out how to put pictures right into the post)

[tet tea]

Kudos to each and everyone of you for having such BIG hearts.

My two are rescues ... you could say the picked me. My one pup was the grunt of the litter living in terrible outside conditions in AL and was going to be drowned. My other pup was found on the highway in a very sad state, also in AL.
They have given me and my family so much love over the last 12 years. They're my best buds!

[rubytue]

My older cat is a rescue. My office mate came in one day and said someone had dropped a box with two kittens in his ditch. He was keeping one, and offered me the other one. They were only about 3 1/2 weeks old Luckily I was a grad student with lots of flexibility to bring her in with me to the office and bottle feed her around the clock. She is now a happy 6 year old kitty!!

My other kitten isn't technically a rescue, but she was given to me by someone who refused to get her cat fixed

And, we are planning to adopt a Chessie as soon as we get a house and yard

[ReturningWest]

All three of my critters are rescues

Cat - beautiful russian blue manx showed up on my door step preggers

Jack Russell - the only known JRT sofa slug

Corgie - the owner had never had a dog and didn't know what to do for him...not exactly abused but very shy around strangers it has taken several years for him to "come out of his shell"

I'll always get rescues...if you are bent on a particular breed you can always contact each breed organization and they usually have a group or two that do rescues.

[BlueWillowPlate]

My cat Willow was born in the woods here. Her mom was a pet who was deserted by her owners when they moved.
My neighbors, before we moved in, had humanely trapped all the other kitties and taken them to the shelter. But this last one remained at liberty, and they fed her whenever they could. When we came along, I fell in love with her little skinny cross-eyed self.
She had every possible parasite, but we bathed her and medicated her and fattened her up.

[JustSayNo]

First, thank you all for helping these beautiful babies-it is indeed a task worth taking on!!

All of our 5 are rescues, and we will never have it any other way.

Old Man-Ally dog in the South Bronx-adopted at 7 years old. Still doing well and loving the spring.

Young Girl - Bought by a POS who did not understand the breed and tried to "break her" using heavy methods. As a GS, she was too smart and did not break nor respect said POS. Was slated to be PTS when resuce stood up. Adopted at 2 yrs. old and doing great.

Big Boy cat - neighborhood dump job, almost feral. Took 6 months of feeding and talking daily-one day, very injured finally allowed me to grab him. 2 months later with lots of meds and rehab he was healthy. The most loving, sweet, appreciatve cat I have ever known. Happy and healthy and adored 6 years later

The girls- 2 of 4, 2-week old orphaned kits. We bottle-raised all 4, adopted out the 2 boys and the girls stayed. Oy vey, they have known nothing but the good life, and are the spoiled little kittens that the should be! They will be 3 this November-who says kitten-season is only the spring!