just a little story...

My best friend is a humane officer and I go with her on investigations on weekends. We checked on an abuse call last March and immediately decided to seize the dog. He (Shadow) was a 16 year old New Foundland who was tied outside in a field by a 3 foot tow truck chain! There was a doghouse, however Shadow had tried to eat it for he was being starved. He smelled so bad that my friend and myself both got sick as we walked him to the vehichle. His owner said she took great care of him and even neutered him herself. We were scared to ask , but she told us anyway that they tied rubber bands around his testicles until they fell off! Can you believe that anyone could be so proud?! At any rate Shadow was taken to the vet right away and found three infections in each ear and on his entire bald body. The illness was so rampant that he will never regrow the fur back around his neck and other areas of his legs! I took him home three days later, after he finished his IV antibiotics and he has become the most loving pet in all of the world! I have never met a more gentle creature in all of my life. Although his age is not on his side, I promised to show him what real love is until the day we part! I am proud to say he has doubled his weight and his coat is a beautiful graying black! Just one look and anyone can feel the love from this worthy soul! God bless animals!

Jennifer - what a great and sad story - Our rott was abused - tied - she came to us with ligature marks around her neck and at 22 pounds for a full grown dog - It's ashame dare i say criminal what some people take for "care" - You are truly a wonderful person for taking him in - & I imagine he will be grateful every day for the love he now recieves! On a sharing level - my father talks of his youth & castrating sheep with either a rubber band type setup or by simply shearing them off with their teeth - and of disposing of unwanted litters by drowning - I am only guessing here & it's a level of realization I have had to come to with my father - the old ways of regarding animals - are not maybe as evolved as ours are becomming... so it may be that her pride may have been from a long family understanding of how animals are regarded. I'm not condoning it - just sharing.