How did you get your dog? (shih tzu, poodles, terriers, tumors) - Dogs - - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

Valerie C · 10-22-2007, 05:10 AM

Chance came to our family through Tulsa Poodle Club's Rescue Team. His entire litter of I believe 7 standard poodle puppies had been dumped on the streets of Dodge City, Kansas by (they think) the puppymill they had been born at. The pups were 4-5 months old, very unsocialized. The hero's in the story are the CUR runners, who worked to get these pups from Dodge City, KS to Wichata, KS then down to Tulsa, OK, then to me in St. Louis, MO. Chance came to us very nervous of new experiences, and was afraid of tools (rakes, etc). One of his ribs is gnarled to this day from what may have been a boot or tool used on him when he was very young. He now is 8 years old, the best best dog you could imagine. There will be some awful big paws to fill when he goes to the Rainbow Bridge...

Sam I Am · 10-22-2007, 05:19 AM

This is a great thread - look at how many rescues from shelters there are! More, more!

Jasmin71 · 10-22-2007, 06:17 AM

We had a mastiff, and our daughter startet Allergies, Docs said must get rid of the Petdander.

We gave our girl back to the Breeder.
Kids were just crushed, so I started to look at * hypo* dogs. We found Maltese's were the best breed, so I looked and searched, found our *schatzi* and bought her for $550. We tried the Rescue but they wouldnt even talk to us sense we had Sissy who was *only* 8 at the time.
So then Hubby keeped talking about the Boxer's he use to have and how funny they are, plus we had a constant every night fighting with the 3 Kids, who gets to have the dog sleep with them. So I found out my GF at the time was havin puppys, I went and took hubby over there to pick one out. *Dozer* is 1 1/2 years old now

We are looking for another Boxer

PitBullMommie1206 · 10-22-2007, 07:45 AM

I could have swore that there was another thread like this? But I searched to find it so I could just copy and paste instead of typing it all again, but I couldn't find the thread? Maybe it was on a different forum? Oh well, either way I would have to add Jayda, and I want to add more detail, so I guess I'll just re-type it! lol!

We got Brooklyn, our 1 year 6 month old male APBT, from a breeder when he was 8 weeks old.

This is a pretty recent picture of Brooklyn. He does weigh a bit more now though. I think he's about as big as he's going to get, he's 48 pounds now.

We got Destiny, our 9 month old female APBT, from a backyard breeder when she was 6 weeks old. I know it sounds bad, and it was, but if we wouldn't have gotten her she would have died. I'm not the kind of person to support the type of people like backyard breeders, but we couldn't just leave Desy to die.

We had heard about these people that had two litters of APBT puppies. Supposedly they were pure bred, but the people that were breeding them really had no idea what they were doing and were definitely not very responsible or caring!

The people that were selling the pups were a young couple (Younger than my husband and I!

) that was about to have their first child. They needed money and needed to "get rid of the puppies fast". So, of course, we had to check it out.

When we got there they had two puppies left, one from each litter. They said that they were going to sell one and keep the last one, so we decided to get the younger one that looked really, really sick. We got Destiny and took her straight to the vet. The vet told us that she wasn't 8 weeks like we were originally told. He said that she had to be 5 or 6 weeks old. He also said that she had really bad fleas and almost every worm in the book!

I guess the fleas and worms were jut sucking the life out of her.

She was severally dehydrated and her red blood cell count was dangerously low! They also said that she was very underweight, but we don't know if she wasn't being fed or if she just wasn't eating because she was so sick.

So the vet told us that she would have to get treatment right away. He said that if we wouldn't have got her and got her in when we did she would have definitely died! He told us that because she was so sick, even with treatment they couldn't tell us if she would live or not!

Anyway, so we left her at the vet for a couple days for her to get flea and worm treatment, the meds and fluids she needed and a blood transfusion. A couple days later the vet called us and told us that she was doing great!

We were told that she still had a ways to go though. She still had meds to take and she still needed to gain some more weight. They told us either they could keep her for a little while longer to make sure she gets everything she needs or we could come get her that day. Of course we decided to go get her right then! lol!

But she had to have her meds every 12 hours and we had to feed her every 3-4 hours for the next couple weeks. Needless to say I got absolutely no sleep at all, but it was worth every single second of it!

She got better very quickly and she has been happy and healthy ever since.

Oh, and after everything was said and done, and she was doing better, the vet told us that she might end up with heart problems sometime down the road and if she ever needed another blood transfusion her body most likely won't except it.

This all happened when she was about 6 weeks old, like I said, and now she is 9 months old. She hasn't had any problems and the vet told us on her last visit that her heart is perfectly normal.

This was Destiny when we first brought her home from the vet, she was 3.5 pounds!

And this is a more recent picture of her. She was about 35 pounds in this picture and she's a bit bigger now, she weighs about 38 pounds.

We got Jayda, our 11 month old female APBT, a few months ago from some morons that lived a couple houses down from us. Jayda was 7 1/2 months old when we got her. The guys that use to own her abused her, neglected her, chained her up on the back porch, then moved out and left her there to die!

Well, the guy that technically owned her went to jail, I think for something to do with drugs? And then right after he went to jail the other guy moved out. We found this out a little while after we got her, not that it made a difference or anything! lol!

We didn't even know that Jayda existed or we would have done something about the situation way earlier!

One day when we were walking to the car to go somewhere a neighbor that lives three houses down from us asked us if we wanted another "pit bull". We said no at first because we already had Brooklyn and Destiny, but the guy told us the story and we had to go take a look at Jayda. He told us that him and his wife had bought Jayda from a breeder, but they already had 4 dogs and shortly after they got Jayda they found out that they were going to have their 3rd child. They guys that lived next door to them (two houses down from us) had been looking to buy a puppy and the guy said that they seemed like good guys so he sold Jayda to them for $20!

Now, I'm not sure if he knew what was going on the whole time or if he had somehow just recently found out, but he told us that the guys that owned Jayda abused her, neglected her, chained her up on the back porch and left her when one of the guys went to jail and the other moved out. After hearing all of that we couldn't say no!

We said that we would take her in and find her a good home, but all three of the dogs got along wonderfully pretty much right off the bat and we fell in love with Jayda instantly! When we first brought her home it took me a few hours just to get her to walk in the house! She was so scared of everything!

We have been working with her and she has gotten so much better! She's still a little weired about some things, but she's no where near as bad as she was to start with! She is so friendly too, even though she went through hell and back for the first part of her life! She really is just all around a wonderful dog!

And here's Jayda. This is my favorite picture of her! lol!

And she weighs about 42 pounds.

brightdoglover · 10-22-2007, 08:15 AM

For those of us who have had multiple dogs or ongoing keep adding dogs to our households, I remind myself that there are "dogs of a lifetime" (what one poster lovingly called a "heart dog") and then there are great friends. Sometimes people have a heart dog, loses the dog, and doesn't want to "replace", or feels the heart dog cannot be replaced. They cannot be, but if you have a "dog-shaped place in your heart," there will always be a friend or heart dog to fill it.

TheDragonslayer · 10-22-2007, 11:54 AM

I only have Chelsea now, she is a six year old Mcnab and Jack Russel mix. I first saw her when she was about 8 weeks old, I saw a group of children with this rott puppy that I had been watching grow up for the last few months and tailing the group was this little white ball of fur. I was terrified that she would get hit by a car as they were rounding the intersection. I found out from the owner of the rott puppy, Marshall walker is the rotts name, Gary said that his cousins had come down from Oregon for a visit and picked up a herd dog mix from a rancher here in Humboldt county. His cousins stayed in his yard for 3 months and one day out of the blue they loaded up their RV and headed back home. I had been giving Chelsea and Marshall dog treats and biscuits for the past few months when I would pass their property on my way to the beach. I had already trained Chelsea and Marshall to sit for treats and to stay put when cars passed . When I saw that RV pass my house and head for the highway, my heart just about split in half. I remorsefully took my walk to the beach thinking to my self how sad it is that I will no longer see this adorable puppy again. As I am passing the house and see that the RV and all of the supplies that were with it was indeed gone, my heart sunk , but it immediately flamed to life with joy when Chelsea came running out of the bushes and right up to me. I talked with Gary who owned the property and he said that his cousins got bored and up and went back home and when he came home from work he discovered that they had abandoned Chelsea. Gary did not want her because he already had 7 big dogs including Marshall and was just going to take her to one of the local ranchers. I told him that I might know of someone local and went home and told my partner, he told me that I should take her. My heart leaped with joy, I did not think he would allow me one more dog since we still had 3 dogs that I had adopted that were now seniors. When I got Chelsea she was under 20 pounds and almost five months old. She apparently did not get enough to eat what with the seven dogs she used to compete with. For all I know, the dog biscuits and treats I was giving her was all she was actually getting. She is now over 50 pounds, a typical herd dog in size, but her body structure, color and personality are all Jack russell. I lost Morgan, my Am staff in 1998 and he was my heart dog, I thought I would never have another dog filled that position, Chelsea has more than filled it. I love her dearly and she knows it.

Granny Sue · 10-22-2007, 12:11 PM

I am Bear's mommy....

13 yrs ago our beloved rottie didn't survive heartworm treatments....we had decided that we didn't want another dog right way...saying goodbye to Buddy was just too hard.....
Fast forward 3 month later a friend shows up at our doorstep with this little black ball of fur under her coat. Seems that her dog had puppies on New Years and this was the only she couldn't get rid of. We thought the puppy was cute but were sticking to our guns....
She then burst into tears saying that if she couldn't find a home for it her significant other said it had to stay outside all night and he would "take care" of it in the morning. Now mind you that threat really was enought to send hubby into a fit then we realized that it was suppose to get into the 20's that night. The poor pup wouldn't survive.
Being the tough hard hearted people we are, we took the pup and named him "Bear."
We hadn't had a puppy for a long time and now believe we earned the right to say "puppy" anyway we want.....if he wasn't so darn cute he would have lost his happy home many times. He grew to 96 pounds of pure love.
It's taken him 12 1/2 years to him to train us properly. He now limps and isn't as active anymore but we are still at his beck and call.

ainmemphis · 10-22-2007, 02:33 PM

Molly- 5 yr lab, terrier,chow mix; my college roommate and I got from the Oktibbeha county Humane society, we were looking for a puppy to keep us company in our apartment, and my husband (who I was dating at the time, also wanted to help us get a dog). since he had the larger yard, and a father who was a vet, he was the one who was allowed to adopt from the shelter, My roommate and I were turned down =( After we graduated, I took Molly (my roommate had since gotten another dog) and now she lives with my husband and I. She is the best dog I've ever had!

Zoe- 3 yr weimaraner, I had begged and begged for a second dog, my husband thought 2 would be too expensive, but once we found out we had good jobs lined up after graduation I searched the classifieds and online for any weim puppies. We ended up driving 2 hours each way to pick her up, I knew I had always wanted a weimaraner and I called many breeders asking many questions before I found one that I felt would give me a good puppy. We actually drove the day before my final exams, so I blame my scores on the lack of sleep. but its all over now! I ended up with a weimaraner who is calmer than most and is always by my side.

miu · 10-22-2007, 03:30 PM

The very first dog of my own was a pug. A lady in my neighborhood had one named Max, and I wanted a dog just like him. I was sitting my my laundromat and there was an ad for pug puppies in the classifieds. I drove down with a friend and picked on out.

The next dog was a stray that wandering into the building I was setting up at an antique show in down in Atlanta. She was covered in fleas and ticks, no hair on her rump. The show management allowed her to stay in the building for the day and fed her hotdogs. But at around 5pm, they didn't know what to do with her and asked me for help. They knew that I had a pug that I traveled with. So I took her to the hotel with me and bathed her, and ended up keeping her. She was my best dog ever. A Welsh terrier/poodle mix, spayed and about 8 years old. She was devoted to me and loved car rides. If I was packing for a show the night before, she wanted to sleep in the car, just to make sure that I didn't forget to take her. My pug accepted her,but actually, she didn't like sharing me with my other pets. One of my cats really loved her and slept with her every night. She would tease him and pretend that she didn't want her food, but then pounce on him suddenly when he went to try to eat it.

My current three dogs I found on Petfinder. I was searching for another small older female terrier mix to adopt. I found the perfect one in TN, then brought home a chocolate lab mix and a mini poodle mix too. Two dogs too many, but that's okay as they love me so much! With three dogs, I can't take the road trips that I used to.

2goldens · 10-23-2007, 05:51 AM

My two Golden Retrievers:

Sandy (female) I bought her from a breeder in Tenn.

Buddy (male) I rescued him from his own death (over crowded kennels) at the local animal shelter by an hour.