Who Could Have Abused and Abandoned this Beauty?

Introducing . . .

We were coming home from a day with my Mom on Saturday, driving through the countryside we often travel around our home, when we came to a crossroads and saw a cowering puppy in the brush.  I told Jeff to stop and he pulled the car to the side of the road.

The puppy was walking around in the brush, and immediately cowered to Jeff.  It was evident she desired the attention he might offer, but was very scared.  It was then I thought of the package of turkey pastrami in the back seat, and I called out to Jeff to come get some to try to tempt her to the car.  The area the dog was in was surrounded by tobacco fields and very few houses, and we knew none had a dog like her.

The meat finally tempted her to get close enough to Jeff to be pet, but she cowered away as if he might hurt her.  Finally, Jeff was able to get her comfortable enough to be picked up and placed in the car.  She was incredibly dirty, but we could tell she was a beauty waiting to be loved and reassured.  She was quiet and slept on the seat on the short ride home.  She welcomed comforting pets, but was not very responsive.

Once we got home, Jeff had to carry her into the house.  We called a vet to find out if there were any things we needed to be concerned about and were told as long as she had no noticeable wounds or illnesses, she would be fine until Tuesday to see a veterinarian.  So we went and got her a few needed supplies, came home and bathed her, and settled in for the night.

We chatted about various names for her and finally decided on Belle, because we are Disney fanatics, and because she is such a beauty (where we picked her up it was pretty obvious she was abandoned or lost - and we agreed to check for a chip implant at the vet office just in case she was lost).  While we watched TV, she lovingly rested between us, as if she was so glad to have us around.  If one of us would get up and leave the room, she would whimper and cling to the other until the other person returned.  Any loud noises startled her, and if either of us moved too quickly she would cower as if we were going to hit her.

In the middle of the night, we noticed that she was panting a lot, and even when she slept, she was breathing really fast.  We called the emergency vet hospital, and they confirmed her breathing was fast, but it could be anxiety or it could be a reaction to pain.  We noticed when we touched her front paws, she would recoil them and they would shake.  She would snore, and had sleep apnea, which scared us.  She slept so heavy, you could lift her head and drop it and she would not wake up.  We decided to continue observing her, but by 5 AM, we were concerned enough to go ahead and bring her in to be checked out.

The veterinarian and the vet tech both fell in love with Belle.  They were concerned about her breathing though.  The vet gave her a full check-up, which included a skeletal examination.  She checked all the joints and bones, including her front paws, but could feel no fractures.  The recoiling of her paws, she figured, could be a muscular strain or perhaps a reaction from past abuse.

When the vet flipped Belle over to examine her left hip joint, Belle fell asleep and her breathing suddenly calmed.  We were all surprised.  "She just needed a $100 massage from a vet." I joked.  For the rest of the visit, she had fine breathing and was given her first vaccinations, de-worming to go home, and a clean bill of health.

The vet figures Belle is a full-blooded Golden Retriever, and is about 7-9 months old.  At 52 lbs, the doctor said she is a bit under weight but has all of her adult teeth and they look good.  She had no chip implanted in her, and both the vet and the vet tech agreed that she appears to have been abused and abandoned.  In other words, we are keeping her.

When we got her home, we tried to get her to go to the bathroom outside, but she was scared, as if she thought we might abandon her again.  Jeff had to carry her in the house because she was too scared to walk.  Once inside, she peed on the kitchen floor.  I started to say "No!" and it scared her and she cowered, but could not stop going.  I let her go and cleaned it up, but thought no more other than that we may need obedience training.

The next day we decided to try taking her out with us to PetsMart.  She would not walk at first, so we put her in a cart.  She was clam and curious, and seemed to like it.  Then she acted like she wanted out, so we decided to see if she would walk on her leash.  We were standing at the vet desk asking about Advantage and a few other things, when a little 2-month-old Scottish Terrier puppy came by.  Belle just loved her, and so did the puppy.

Then, a lady's dog had gone potty on the floor and the lady was cleaning it up.  I noticed that Belle got very upset and cowered again, even though it was not her potty being cleaned up, she was afraid of getting in trouble.  That is just one of the many things we have noticed with her regarding suspected abuse.

Each day, Belle is getting more and more like a regular dog and less and less scared.  The cats are finally getting used to her and she wants to love them so much.  When they get close enough she lays on the kisses.  She is still very easily startled and will cry like she has been hurt if something scares her bad enough - like a cat being intimidating.

At Pam's (my sister) last night, Belle was even willing to cower to little Puppy Fritz and let him be the Alpha dog.  He barked at her and she curled up in a submissive position.  Today though, she is so much happier looking, and is finally walking in and out on her own.  The test will be to see if she will get in the car without having to be picked up.  If she passes that test, I will say she has done leaps and bounds in just 3 days!

Belle is very loving, and I really don't know how anyone could have abused or abandoned such a sweet dog.  Oh, and by the way - she has been completely potty trained since day 2!  She is doing great and hopefully, one day soon will be playing catch and running around like a happy, healthy, loved dog!