RESCUE STORIES

 Storm, Fractured Skull

Little girl Storm was dropped at the shelter with a fractured skull and jaw. Her injury, thought to have been from a dog bite, was massively infected with her own jaw bone danging out of her mouth. Our surgeon put her back together and she recovered nicely aside from missing a row of molar teeth - so what! She also quickly gained confidence with dogs. A reminder of the resiliency of puppies like Storm.

CAIN, Emaciated Senior

Sweet senior Cain arrived to the shelter at age 13 thin and frail. We considered Cain a fospice case and never really intended to adopt him out. Our aim was to give him a home with a warm bed, good nutrition, medical care, and a good human who would love and care for him after a lifetime of neglect. He joined a family of foster brothers and sisters, mostly small dogs, who embraced him as part of the pack. He learned how to be a house dog, gained weight, started smiling, had plenty of naps and cuddles. When it was time, Cain passed in the arms of his foster mom. We do believe he felt safe and loved before he left us.

 CLIFF aka “Big Red”, Old Hip Injury

Cliff, or "Big Red", as they called him, was the longest shelter resident and after his 5th call out, was out of time. The next day, X-rays found that Cliff has a nearly exploded hip socket from what is suspected to be a big impact injury, an old injury. It’s likely he had been hit by a car and been living with fragments grinding bone-to-bone for years. Despite his unimaginable pain, Cliff has been the most pleasant, eager-to-please guy giving big tail wags and smiles to just about anyone. After months of recovery, rehabilitation including physical therapy, acupuncture, water treadmill, Cliff is healed and home.

  CHEWY, Hit By Car

Chewy was brought to the shelter more dead than alive. The medical notes said: "He appears to have severe head trauma and is unable to walk or stand on his own. He also is bleeding from his nose and is making gurgling sounds when he breathes." We decided then and there that if he made it through the night we'd go get him, and indeed the following morning Samantha picked him up and took him to the hospital.

Surpassing our highest hopes, Chewy made a full recovery. At only around 8 months old, he turned out to be a total gem - sweet, gentle, smart, adorable, friendly. Everyone who meets him loves him - imagine if, for a lack of just $1500, we'd have had to leave him to his fate.

Chewy lives with his sister (another former Blue Man Dog rescue) in a home with a large yard and lots of love.

 SHADOW, Neglected Senior

10 year old Shadow came to the shelter in terrible shape: skinny, full of tumors and masses, with rotten teeth, arthritis, and having been eaten up by fleas. His medical care cost over $2000 and it took 7 months of healing time to put a gloss back in his fur and a spring back in his step, but this gentle giant ANGEL of a dog is loved by everyone he meets.

Shelters are full of seniors with medical needs as people dump old dogs they no longer want. Help us save more wonderful dogs like Shadow by donating to our Rescue.

Shadow now lives in a beautiful house and has 2 small dogs as his friends, goes to doggy spa every other week, and is loved by his new family.

 REGGIE, To Be Euthanized

Reggie’s owners were struggling with his severe biting. Previous trainers had failed, indeed they had made it worse and he came to us for behavior evaluation. Once they where instructed how to proceed, they made the decision it was not for them to do this work and contacted the rescue from where he’d been adopted – together, they decided to euthanize him. Reggie was scheduled to be picked up in a pet taxi from us and driven directly to vet. We said no and told them we would keep him ourselves and do the work.

Reggie spent over a year with us. We learned to groom him ourselves and bought all the necessary tools. We tried a number of muzzles to find the right one. We consulted with dog aggression expert Brandon Fouche.

It took a LOT of time and money, but Reggie has been now adopted and is doing great! He is an incredibly smart, spunky, fun little guy who deserved all the work and time it took to save him.

 

UNO, Shattered Hip

Uno's hip was not just broken, but shattered. The surgery cost more than $3000 but we all agree it was more than worth it to save this adorable nugget. Uno was adopted by a close friend of ours, goes to work with her and is treasured.

 FONZY, Two Years In The Shelter

Being a large black adult pitbull mix (6 yrs old, 80 pounds), Fonzy was being overlooked at the shelter - for two long years. Thanks to a dedicated foster we pulled him out, and after only a few months he was adopted (the applicant was initially interested in Shadow, but we suggested Fonzy as the better fit for their lifestyle - a huge advantage of being a Rescue is that we get to know our dogs).
And what a match it is! His forever family love him dearly and could not have dreamed of a dog better than Fonz!

 CANDICE, 10 Years Old + Tumor

Senior girl Candice, sweet and gentle, ended up at a city shelter with a tumor the size of a grapefruit on her belly. No one could say whether it was malignant or benign, so nobody wanted to take a chance on her and she was running out of time.

We took her straight to the veterinary clinic for evaluation. The tumor was removed (along with two bumps on her paws, spay surgery, teeth cleaning, and treatment for an ear infection). Candice's remaining years of life came with a hefty price tag, but we sure think she is worth every penny.

 ELVI, Pregnant And Scared

Elvi was turned in to a shelter, very scared, coughing, and heavily pregnant! Because shelters have such limited space and funds, her situation was urgent. (Shelters can't manage tiny puppies who pick up diseases, let alone a terrified mama who tries to bite).

Challenges aside, we agreed to take Elvi to provide her a calm and safe place to deliver her pups, and feed her the nutritious food she needed. A few days later we had a litter of seven puppies! Happy as we were, the entire family needed to be spayed/neutered, vaccinated, de-wormed and microchipped before they could go up for adoption (over $2000).

All pups - and momma Elvi! - are now safely and happily in their forever homes.