| No Good Deed Goes Unpunished |
| As many of our past associates and former adopters are aware, we occasionally foster dogs who are likely to be euthanized, or are coming from bad situations. The end of July of this year, we rescued a beautiful Doberman Pinscher. She was advertised in the newspapers as "free" which is always a concern, especially with guard type dogs. When we took her in, her coat was drab and oily, and she was showing all the signs of having been physically abused. We turned her from a timid, skiddish dog who ran around the house and peed at the slightest loud noise (even the bang of pots and pans as we did dishes) to an outgoing companion who went everywhere with us. She loved car rides, and she LOVED to run. We changed her food to a more high quality food and gave her supplements to her coat. She was a beautiful dog, weighing in, the entire time that we have had her, at 65-70 lbs (a very healthy weight for a female dobe. Because she was a very active dog, and we live in a small neighborhood, we posted her on Petfinder to find her a nice country home. I found what i thought was the most fantastic mommy for her. She knew about dogs, she had dobe experience, and she lived on a 2 acre plot. IT has been several days now that she was in her home for a few days before i started to receive threatening calls and e-mails. First i was accused of lying about when she last had puppies. Her former owners had informed me that she had puppies in the summer of 2006, and that was what we had reported to the new owner. She accused us of lying and hiding the information about her puppies (she had had NONE while in our care). I e-mailed her an article on canine false pregnancy as she believed that the dog was lactating. After she consulted her vet, that subject was dropped and now we are being accused of causing the dog to be malnourished and dehydrated. At her present weight, when we had her with us, she was a healthy weight for a dobe, according to breed standard. I understand that different people like different looks in their dogs, but as rescuers it is our responsibility not to overfeed and risk health issues. And now, most currently I have been threatened. She has threatened to go to all of the local newspapers and rescues about my "horrible rescue." She said, and i quote, "i would never put a dog in your care. You and your husband should be ashamed of yourselves." We have two dogs of our own, and I have been caring for dogs all my life. I understand that different people have different feelings on what types of conditions dogs should be in, but we fostered this dog to give her a better life. I still believe that she is in the home she needs to be in, but it is sad that people out there feel the need to attack rescuers. No good deed truly goes unpunished. January 14, 2008 I have got to thinking... When I first spoke with this then potential dog owner, she told me about the horrible conditions she rescued her former Doberman from, and how she nursed her back to health and spent 1000's of dollars on her once she got cancer, etc etc. At the time, this made her sound like a wonderful owner. But her dog has also passed away three weeks ago, and she was looking for a new companion. I minored in psychology in college, and I'm wondering if maybe she is trying to hard to turn our dog into her old dog. She needs for her to be in horrible condition, malnourished, dehydrated (all of the things her former dog was when she got her) in order to turn her into Hanna. But Kayla is not Hanna, she does not need a savior, she just needs a friend and owner. I have also been thinking that red flags should have gone up when she started looking for things wrong with her as soon as she got here. Even going so far as to ask me if she was lame, because she was excited and wiggling and trying to sit and run around at the same time (any dog owner knows the kind of excitement I'm talking about). So far I've been accused of lying about when she last had puppies (this was dropped after she saw her vet), starving her and never giving her water, and I have been informed that her "teeth" were abscessed. This is the only thing I can not argue 100%. She ate hard food and her appetite was good, she did not have horrible breath (when animals have infected teeth their breath smells 100x worse than dog breath!) so I never had reason to poke around in her mouth. But after three days with Kayla, this woman is saying she is dehydrated and malnourished. As many of you may know, animals can lose a couple of pounds in a couple of days when under stress, and dehydration can be cured with water! After three days in a new home, if a dog is in that condition, I would personally be looking at the new owner, not the rescue. Especially when the dog was previously in good condition Thanks for listening!! Katie |
