Thread: Adopting a Rescue Pet

Tweet

This is Kichou, the kitty we adopted from a rescue situation. (She is the one on the left.) She was named Cindy.. but I QUICKLY changed that.. hahaha! The other cat is Kitty (yes that's her name). She was a stray we rescued when she was just a kitten. She is 8 now.

We rescued a horse, the stables we worked at went bust and he was due to be shot, too old to ride even though he'd earned $$$$ doing cossack shows. We kept him till he died at 38 years old, a beautiful, dignified soul, who we still miss ( sometimes still rattles his stable door!)

Oh Annea that's a wonderful story. Such dedication and love, it's really great you were able to give him such a good life. And to have lived for 38 years, that's amazing!

AngelEye you're kittys are darling! I had two too that lived to 18 - both sweet as could be but slightly mischieveous too.

I think Bella just needs more work from her foster owner before she is ready to be adopted. What are her techniques for battling Bella's shyness?

This is very true! She needs much more socialization and time understanding people other than her foster mom are o.k. to be around and curious about. I'm thinking just spending time visiting as many friends (both doggie & human) as possible will help. She may never be completely comfortable around anyone else but her foster mom though, poor thing is so scarred.

Angel Eye, , your kitties are so pretty! I agree, give Belle time. My daughter has a dog from a rescue organizaton(a Chug!!) who had been left in a abandoned house, where some kids broke in and kicked him and the other little dog with him, he, even though very tiny, defended the other dog, and got kicked pretty severely for his efferts, and was quite a basket case when she got him. She has had him for two years, and he has come along way. He still is a strange little guy, but he accepts being around other people better now, and just is better all the way around. With alot of patience and love, she may come around.

Hello! I randomly found your post while searching around for new corgi blogs to read and new corgi people to meet! (I'm not all that Halloween-y until October rolls around but joined so that I could respond to your post.) The main thing I want to tell you is not to give up and that rescuing a corgi will likely be the most awesome, thrilling, fulfilling thing you've done in a long time. We adopted Sully from LPWCC's rescue two years ago and he is the most perfect corgi for our family, they did an awesome job matching us up. No, no rescue corgi will be without their issues, be they physical or mental. Sully was an outdoor dog for the first three years of his life, living in a backyard, he was used to breed litters of puppies and I don't think he got much more attention than throwing some food out there. He was overweight, and had to have some serious dental work done but that was easy enough to fix. He was a shy boy and still is very cautious and gentle. We worked through this, building up his courage and trust in humans. Dogs were another story. We worked through his fear-based dog aggression using a program called Open Bar, which changes the way a dog thinks about other dogs approaching them. Now we compete in Obedience and Rally Obedience and he LOVES it! Shed? Oh god, yes they shed! Have you ever heard of the Lesser Corgi Society? It's a fictitious society that's aim is to protect the breed from becoming too popular by making sure people understand things like how much they shed, bark and the generally unruly behavior that corgis are so good at. Let me be your LCS representative and tell you about the BALLS of corgi hair that roll through our hallway (wood floors) and now that we've moved into a house that has a carpeted area as well, I can't STAND the look of corgi hair sticking up all will nilly out of the carpet so it gets vacuumed a LOT! So, do you live near Chicago? We are in C-U but make it up north for the Lakeshore Corgi Specialty every year to see everyone (Sully's foster mom, transporters, etc.) and to compete of course! They are such a nice, supportive bunch! I wish you all the luck in the world finding the right dog for you home and family! And if you have any other questions, just let me know!
-Jenna
corgipants.blogspot.com

Never addopted a pet from a rescue but make sure it's not one that's going to die or has life threatning illness. It happens to people so many times and they don't even know.

Ya never know what you are getting but all in all they are worth it. And yes I agree that you have to give these animals a chance because nobody really knows what they are coming from.

I had a chihuahua that some lady decided to get rid of because she wanted a german shepard pup. She ran a house and sold dogs, not sure where she got them from. We brought him home, he was 10yrs. old and hubby picked out another one. The chihuahua was a breeding dog at one of those awful places and in 6 months he developed cancer in the throat. He was great up till 3 days befor he died. All I can say is that guy was so happy with us and I'm thankful he spent the last of his life w/ me.

When my animals die I try to honor them by helping out another animal in need. Next was TAZ, I found him on petfinders at a rescue place that was a pure mess. We made arrangements to go see him and when we arrived he tried to bite both of us. As the lady went to show someone else another dog I told hubby...forget it he's crazy as he followed the lady that ran the place all over and would not leave her side.

SHe had told us no one wanted him and he'd been there over a year. Nobody wanted him cause he had only one eye, he lost his eye over a fight he had in her rescue place w/ a dog 10 times bigger than him. Not sure how he survived.

Anyways....he bit hubby again before we left and hubby said>>>I'm not leaving him here. Well the lady that ran the rescue carried him to the car cause none of us could. He stood up and looked out the window the whole ride home. I made hubby sit in back w/ him. As we were riding along I asked hubby>>>>DO you have a plan when we get home how we are getting him in the house? Hubby replied: I' m working on it!! lol

I just want to say one thing. Within an hour of getting home he was so sweet and it took awhile for other things but he's one of the most special animals I have ever owned. SHe said he was "regal" and boy she was not kidding!

Then one of my old stray cats died of old age & once again I went to petfinders. This time I brought home Angela. When I sent the email in on her they were thrilled...I guess she had been there awhile cause when people came to meet her she was not very friendly. So no one wanted her. I take chances w/ animals like this so we brought her home & she is just wonderful. She had been shifted around so much w/ rescues and foster homes I guess she just did not trust anyone. SHe is very happy with us.

And lastly I would just like to mention that I did rescue 2 horses once. Probably my most high $$$$$ rescue of all time because they needed vet attention badly. It was a real battle with the owner and my threats of contacting the humane society. Truth is if he would not have agreed to sell me those horses I would have removed them in the middle of the night in what I would call a "Horse Kidnapping" . He was starving them and one got in the barbed wire fence. HE never left them water and as long as I lived in that farm house I never saw him come there once cause I was caring for them. He finally gave in...I told him sell them to me or I am calling the society to come & get them.

He gave in and the 1st vet bill was $1500.00, thank God I had a good job at that time cause the vet bills kept coming. There was problems with their eyes and some other things going on.
It took about 1 year to get them back up to healthy and I gave them to my sister in law...she had a big farm in Nebraska.

SO YES I am for rescue animals.....they need us!! ANd if you adopt one....and they are a little stand offish give them sometime. I got a cat once that was tortured by a kid. It took 5 years for her to get over what he was doing to her...but I respected her and gave her her space and time to recover. SHe became a wonderful pet that I had till she died at 15.

Muffy

We have 4 dogs. I adopted my Jack Russell (Hershey) from Pals for Pooches a few years ago. They called a few times within the first 6 months to check on her. I thought that both great and annoying. I can understand that there are some people out there that are just irresponsible pet owners and some people like Ellen who didn't realize what they were getting into. And the rescue foundation want to make sure that the animals are ok. So I can understand wanting to check in but I thought it was a little too frequent. My boyfriend who lives with me now has a Shelty (Shelby) that he adopted from a place called CAPS many years ago. We also have a Beagle (Flash) that was a stray that my BF took home years ago from a construction site that he was working at. And finally, our most recent addition is, what we believe to be a Pit/Greyhound Mix named Ella. She's been the most difficult but still a sweetheart. She was a stray that was wandering around the warehouse/frieghtyard that my BF is currently working at. Both Flash and Ella were literally skin and bones when he found them. The pound was there at the warehouse to pick Ella up the day he brought her home. And he couldn't let her go, knowing for sure that chances of someone adopting a Pit from the pound, especially one in her ragged condition, were slim to none. He couldn't forgive himself if she was euthanized because no one would give her a chance. She was obviously in a few fights in her time and had the scares to prove it. She took some time to adjust to the other dogs but she's made leaps and bounds in the almost 2 months we've had her. The first couple of weeks we had her, we couldn't leave her in the same room as the other dogs and now she sleeps side by side with them. We're so poud of her and we love that we were able to save her life and give her a loving home.

My daughter got a dog, a "chug" from a rescue place, he had been abandoned, in a house with another dog, and some teens broke into the house and started attacking and hurting the dogs, DJ, her dog, tried to protect the other dog and got kicked hard and hurt for his efforts(he is really small) When she got him, he was so distrusting and barky and nippy, but it is cuz of his situation. He is so much better now, he still is a bit of a stinker, but has come a long way, she takes him to friends houses with her now, he is ok.he just can't go to the pet store, that would not be good!, she has 2 great rescue cats too. My son has 3 cats from either a rescue place or strays that needed a home. My four cats have all been strays, ones we found or friends found and we took in. They are all fabulous loving animals, all spoiled and loved like crazy!