Rescue Dogs

I am a devout dog rescuer, not the I have a hundred dogs, but when I get a dog I rescue. I have a rescue now for the last four years. He is a German Shepherd Dog mixed with Great Dane. Santos was being hunted in CT by the hunters there, because he was chasing off the game that they were hunting. The Animal Control in the area got reports about him for over a year, killing cats, getting into garbage cans and other kinds of stuff dogs do when they have to fend for themselves. Poor Santos was in the newspapers in Fairfield County for being the dog that no one could catch. So, that is where I come in. I recently moved to CT from Nevada and was looking for a rescue dog for a replacement of my old Border Collie that passed away a few months before. When I went to the dog pound in the town I was living, I looked at a lot of dogs but I just could not find the dog for me. When I talked to the lead Animal Control Officer she suddenly remember me as the woman who owned a coy dog many years ago in the same town. She asked me if I was willing to hold out for a foster dog, and that they had not caught this dog yet but would need an experienced dog trainer to take him on. Well, I was shocked that she would remember me from 25 years ago, but I guess it was a little unusual. So I asked her how long it would be before she would have the dog available, to my surprise they just installed a bear cage on some one's property that this dog was spotted on many times. The little girl that lived on this property was putting food in the cage every night for months, and it seemed to everyone that it was just a matter of time before he would take the bait. Well, I told her I would wait and to give me a call when they captured him.

About two weeks later, I was sitting in my back yard with a fire going and friends cooking all kinds of yummy food, I got a call from Animal Control that they caught the dog and where did I live so they could drop him off to me. Now, I am thinking what the heck are they thinking. It is nine o'clock at night, so I said I would come down the next day and check him out. Well, they said he is still in the cage, and nobody wants to get near him or knew how to get him into the kennel. So, I said I would go to where they had him, and from there I would take him home. Well, one of my friends at my little bonfire party is a vet named Peter and he jumped at the chance to meet this ornery dog. So, we went to the property that the cage was still at and sure enough there was Santos howling like some one trying to kill him almost like a wolf sound very eerie. Peter took one look at him, and said lets get him to my office, good thing too because I never saw so many ticks on a dog before. He also was skin and bones, once we weighed him he came in at 55lbs, which is 50lbs less then what he should of weighed. We were up with Santos all night, picking the ticks off of him and hand feeding him a little food at a time. We tested him for everything; and he had everything Lyme's disease, intestinal bacteria infection to name just a few. When the day shift came in, we had about four people working on him, mostly pulling ticks off and many baths.

The next day I brought Santos home, and nursed him back to health which the bad part took about a month however he remained sickly for about two years with one thing or another. Within three months of him being in my home, he made level two of obedience training and also his Good Canine Citizenship Certificate. He has been a loyal buddy to me, when I am not feeling well he lies next to me and won't leave my side. When I am hiking, he keeps watch out for bears and other dangerous animals and makes me aware of them. He has been my best friend now for four years. Yes, we do have our problems, he views cats and small dogs as food and this is an on going problem. His biggest asset is that he has the

patience of a saint with children. And, though my life style is quite different with him, I always have to be on guard that he doesn't eat someones cat or small dog, he is quite worth the effort.