#dog - #Share your dog rescue story with me!

Share your dog rescue story with me!

Hi, I wanted to know your rescue dog stories and share mine.

At the time I did not own a dog, I made a friend when I was at the hospital who, like me, was passionate about rescuing animals.She had three dogs, one of the newest was a difficult one.When I first met the dog, a scrawny, yet muscular pit bull, white with black blotches, named Jersey, she scared me.This dog was very intimidating when I first met her, snarling and barking at me.Once I was inside the house she did however start to warm up to me.However, she was not able to be alone with the other dogs and even keeping a eye on her, was difficult to keep in check( she was aggressive and tried instigating fights).Jersey was super, frantically hyper, to the point that we even suspected she was given amphetamines/ meth.Given her background it would not have been far fetched.Worst of all, she was very young, barely a year old.She came from a guy my friend knew from church who together with his son had gotten her for dogfighting.She was bred and trained to be a fighting dog.Rewarded for aggression and Iike we assumed given drugs to increase her aggressive tendencies.The son later actually admitted to injecting her with tiny mixtures of meth&low-grade cocaine My friend had this dog for three months before I met her.Shortly after I met Jersey a few more times a bad fight broke out between her and her older Lab/mix.It was bad and she was actually getting ready to take Jersey to be euthanized.I felt a instant bond with Jersey and although I did not know if I could help her, I convinced my friend to let me try to help and she agreed.I worked with Jersey every day, even lived with my friend for a month so I could train her.I took her on long walks by herself, then tried to reward her for peaceful behaviour with the other dogs.Slowly she became calmer and more predictable with the other dogs( her other dog was male and she rarely even bothered him at all) Eventually I even got her to the point that I could walk both dogs side by side, peacefully.Her older dog even tried to start fights on a few occasions and Jersey simply walked off and ignored it! Spending all this time with her, I truly loved her and I was getting ready to bring Jersey to my house. Problem was, that my landlord threatened to evict me.Due to her breed it was not permitted in my community.I offered to get her behaviour tested/ k9 good citizen, agree to keep her muzzled when I walked her, but I could not change her mind. I felt horrible for failing this dog.To this day I am sad about it.Athough my dog now is the best dog I 've ever had( a greyhound).While I m happy to have my dog, I 'll never forget about Jersey, the former fighter.Luckily, Jersey did find a great home, my friend got Jersey a home with a older Lady who did not have any other dogs and a large fenced in backyard/ a home that was owned by her. She also had Pit bull experience, and knew about her past.My friendship sourerd, so I do not know how Jersey is today, but I got to think at the very least I gave her a chance and helped her move on.I hope she is happy.This event changed me profoundly in that I stopped believing all Pit bulls are mean/ dangerous and never change.It made me have a passion for the breed and I hope I get another chance to save one of these dogs from the horrible world of dog fighting, because I am not a professional dog trainer, but with enough dedication and love I managed to turn a dangerous dog into a wonderful pet, so if someone like me can do that, anyone with enough passion can do the same thing.

Submitted April 01, 2019 at 11:04AM by Houndmama87
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/DOG/comments/b85421/share_your_dog_rescue_story_with_me/?utm_source=ifttt