"Chance" , a dog who was beaten and hung, and is recovering..

[Mari333]

I just got a call that I am one of a few people who are being considered to adopt him for good. yay!!!
his foster mother called me, and we spoke for a long time, and he is doing very well, and has turned a corner.
He was also fed antifreeze. His kidneys are regenerating well now.


heres his story in the news:
http://www.wwmt.com/articles/dog_1356086___article.html/help_rescue.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Kudos on you getting to adopt!

I know Chance will have a loving home.

[Mari333]

2. his foster mother told me

that she will select a few people and then put them in a room and let Chance decide who is parents should be. I really like that idea.She is screening people very well, and there have been a lot of responses to his plight. hes a sweetie pie.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. That is a wonderful plan

I just hope Chance recovers emotionally as well as physically from his ordeal.

I also hope that the man who did this to Chance is incarcerated for a long time.

[Ishoutandscream2]

3. What the hell is wrong with people?

A poor, defenseless dog. The sheer evil.

I am so glad you will be adopting Chance. He's going to need a lot of love, which I know you will give him.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. Sheer evil is right!

:mad: Maybe the person who did this should receive the same treatment.

[ailsagirl]

20. People who abuse animals are known to abuse children

It's the same mindset and it's appalling

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. I don't understand either abuse. Both are innocent and helpless. And yes, it is appalling.

[tuckessee]

4. If you do wind up getting him....

...you'll probably have real treasure on your hands.

"Salvaged" animals often turn out to be the best companions.

[Mari333]

16. true, very true

my pound puppy i have now is a little guy who is always with me, sleeps with me, always by my side, always kisses and hugs and loves all the time. he is my best friend.
yes, they are the best.

[rvablue]

7. So sad, but thank god he can look forward to spending the next part of

his life with a kind and thoughtful owner like yourself.

Why, oh, why do people do this to animals....it breaks my heart. :cry:

[Mari333]

8. here he is, hes facing 4 yrs in prison

http://www.wwmt.com/articles/chance_1356642___article.html/williams_animal.html

[flvegan]

43. Bulletproof vest. I love it.

Living in fear is the best punishment.

[brentspeak]

9. Place this guy and Michael Vick in a crocodile pit

[margotb822]

12. Wouldn't that be mean to the crocodiles?

Haha.

Seriously, this is where I support "eye for an eye." How can someone treat animals like this? I volunteered at the SPCA in college and we received two pitbull puppies who had been so severely beaten and malnourished that they would never grow to full size. They were also too terrified to walk and had to be carried around. Luckily, a good person adopted both and they are doing well now.

[ellenfl]

10. goo don you! stories like this make me believe in capital punishment. eom

[TahitiNut]

11. A black labrador! They're the best of dogs ... obscene!

That poor fella... he needs to be treated well and lovingly. He needs to learn how to play and become the joyful dog that's his birthright.

[Mari333]

13. his foster mom told me

he sleeps with toys. he loves stuffed animals and little toys.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. Awww!

:cry: I love dogs!

[TahitiNut]

17. That would indicate that at some point, he was treated OK as a pup.

That's good. If he connects 'toys' to some time when he was actually secure and played, then he can be nurtured. Labradors have a huge 'play' tendency ... they can be easily kept in the "puppy mood" all their lives. (Mine was.) Games of 'fetch' and walks along the creek/lake ... can work really well.

[lukasahero]

14. What a beautiful dog

I can't begin to describe how I feel about how this. I hope he picks you.

[TK421]

18. What kind of sick bastard does that to an animal?

I would love to get my hands on the people who abused him and force-feed them antifreeze

[TahitiNut]

21. I'd sentence them to years cleaning up dog parks.

... and I'd be inclined to make them do it with their bare hands.

[TahitiNut]

19. More photos (most recent first, older last) ...

[Mari333]

22. OMG what a sweetie!!!!!!!!

thank you so much for sharing..the eyes of pure joYYYYYYYY and love....

[TahitiNut]

30. Those amber labrador eyes just pull at my heart. My Black Lab, Bo, died 19 years ago ...

... and left a hole in my heart. He was the BEST dog in the world -- the best friend I ever had -- and the 12+ years he shared my life are a treasure.

[a la izquierda]

26. Ooooohhhh!! How adorable! What a ham!

Ten more days, just ten more days. Then I can go home and see my puppehs!

Thankfully, while on research in Mexico, my landlord has a wonderful puppeh who keeps me company. I'll miss him when I leave.

[stuntcat]

31. he's so beautiful

whoever hurt him should be publicly humiliated, castrated, then left to starve. I'm not even kidding, there's enough humans breathing up my air, ones like that need to go, permanently.

I'm glad Chance has people to love him now.

[ladywnch]

24. do to him what he did to the dog!.....it is close to eye for an eye etc isn't it?

[bdamomma]

25. tha t poor dog, whoever did that should be arrested.

[foxfeet]

27. Good luck to both you and Chance! nt

[HillWilliam]

28. This kind of story makes me

:cry: twice. Once for Chance's pain and once for joy on his recovery.

Oh, I do hope he picks you. There is nothing like the pure love of a rescued animal.

We have three rescues. The last one was in almost as bad a shape. She had been beaten and starved nearly to death. Her eyes were sunken in and her skin was grey. She had almost no fur at all. Almost a year later, here's our youngest "princess", Lady Callalily:



As my sigline says -- >

[Mari333]

29. Beautiful doggie!!! give her a snuzzle for me

she looks so happy!

[TahitiNut]

32. Lovely dog. Give her a tummy rub and scratch at the base of the ear for me.

I'm a sucker for dogs ... and it doesn't take 'em long to figure out I KNOW how and where to scratch 'em right. :silly:

[HillWilliam]

33. Puppehs and kittehs know me on sight

I have a sign on my forehead that only they can see that says "This one is good for pets and treats". Animals that won't go to anyone else seem to gravitate to me -- and I LOVE it! Can't tell you how many times I go see couples for consultation and wind up visiting more with the furkids... or actually, they visit with me. The parents usually figure if the furkids like me, I must be okay :) Well, I trust my furkids, too. They have a much better-developed people-sense than I do. Here are the other two:

DoraLee, the WonderDog, my partner's seizure-detector and assistant. She's a Blue Heeler/Springer mix.


My buddy, Ashley-Marie II with her favorite (remnants of a) ball. She's a Smooth Collie, maybe a touch of Lab, maybe to touch of Chessie. She's got the smooth collie ruff and waves in her coat.

[TahitiNut]

35. Yup. I have the same marks on my forehead, apparently.

All my life I've figured that, no matter what other problems I might have, I must be doing something right for kids and dogs to like me. All of 'em. Owners get nervous sometimes and it's necessary to assure them that I don't mind the "kisses" from their dogs. More than a few have said "that's strange! (s)he doesn't usually warm up to strangers." I try to assure them that the 'word' apparently gets around between the neighborhood dogs ... that I'm a sucker, know how to scratch, and often have treats in my pocket.


I had to go pick up my nephew's Rottweiler at the kennel during Thanksgiving week -- he was growling and snarling and they couldn't handle him -- my nephew was visiting his sister in Arizona for the holiday and he'd left Deke at the kennel. When they called him in Arizona, I was his sole "go-to-guy." Thus, I had to go 'rescue' them from Deke. When I went into the kennel, all the dogs in the exercise area rushed to the barrier to get my scratches and hugs and give kisses. The staff was perplexed. I took Deke with me. He was NOT a happy camper. He was pissed ... growling, snarling, and recalcitrant. It took a couple of days for him to get over his 'mad' (he's a puppy mill dog and prone to growling) and 'apologize' to me -- head on my lap and big sigh -- but the 'pros' couldn't handle him. (My nephew is emotionally defensive and won't allow me to work with them both. Deke, now about 6 years old, obviously has socialization and abandonment issues -- typical puppy mill trauma -- and my nephew hasn't done the necessary work with him.)

[HillWilliam]

38. That's really too bad for Deke

Dogs are social animals and they need interaction. Lucky for him he's had you in his life at least some of the time. He'll always recognize you as a friend and ally.

Anything on earth will do most anything for love and attention; dogs even moreso. I get constant compliments on how well-trained ours are. We're always asked, "How do you get them to do..." x, y, or z task. We simply say, "we just asked them to." That's not a lie or an exaggeration. I'm a big believer an all-positive, non-aversive methods. It's so much easier to lead with love than it is to beat from behind with fear. (Why can't we get that across to the wackogelicals?) True, it takes a lot of patience, but when you love someone, what else have you but time and patience, especially if they don't and never will speak your language. Must needs lead by demonstration. If you have their complete trust and never, ever, ever betray it, they will follow. (Mind the caveat in the middle phrase. I always keep my promises to them, no matter how trivial. No. Matter. How. Trivial they might seem. They remember the promise of a cookie or a go-ride or even a special cuddle.)

Callie was about our toughest case because of what she'd been through, plus she has some Kuvasz in her heritage. I've lived with several Kuvaszok, so I'm familiar with their stubborn personalities. But they're extremely -- spooky! -- bright dogs and collies are no slouch either. It was easy enough to charm her collie nature and need for approval. We didn't push her; we let her bloom. Getting her healthy was the biggest chore; getting her over her fear of hands was the next one. Now she's quite sure that hands are for petting and the princesses are to be worshipped. She has a few puppy-habits left we're working on, but she's a far, far cry from the total basket case we took on. She's come miles and miles in just a year. She's got lots of life left to live. She'll live it happily if there's breath in our bodies.

[TahitiNut]

39. Yes ... Deke needs far more structure and 'communication skills.'

Sadly, my nephew is a 30-something knows-everything (nearly as emotionally insecure as Deke). :shrug: (At least I knew enough at that age that I got 'training' in how to train Bo.)

Every time I see them, I'm reminded of Cool Hand Luke. "What we have here is a failure to communicate."

I spent thousands of hours with Bo in his first two years ... training, training, training. Every evening and every weekend. For him, it was a structured kind of play. He discovered that he could get treats, hugs, praise, and fun when he figured out what the strange 'barking' meant that that two-legged almost furless Alpha dog was doing. He learned come, stay, heel, down, and his favorite: retrieving. He LOVED going airborne for the Frisbee. He LOVED bringing it right back to my hand and "training" me to throw it again. And again. And again. (He envied me my opposable thumb. He exploited it.) But he had to do the other, more boring stuff first. The better he did, the more frisbee fun he got.

Then he learned hand signals. All of a sudden he saw something he understood: body language. He connected the signals with those strange "barks" in only a few weeks. It amazed our friends. Magic. I tried to explain that body language was an easy step for dogs to learn, since they're already attentive to that.

From that point on, Bo was almost magical ... casual conversation. He learned to parse out the magic 'barks' from the rest. "Walk" and "ride" and "swim" were the Mecca of Joy for Bo. "Go for" was the Open Sesame that said Candyland was just out the door. He learned how to wait to see when I woke up in the morning (and God forbid he wake me) ... so he could get hugs, treats, bladder relief, and all the fun that comes from playing. He was my roommate, friend, companion, and woman-magnet. (The perfect 'filter' is a dog with good taste - he finds females that like dogs and they're the only kind worth knowing. Cats are OK, but they never get over being pissed they're not dogs.)

:evilgrin:

We have VERY similar attitudes about dogs, Rev. Dogs (like people) are NOT for hitting. (No living thing should be hit.) It's about COMMUNICATING. It's about love, respect, play, trust, and paying attention to what's important. (Like food and fresh air and scratching and water and back rubs.)

Patience? Yep. But there's nothing better to do in this life than be in that moment and making it the best we can. It's about realizing that "where we've been going" is where we are. It's a gift - which is why it's called the "present." Dogs know this. We have to relearn it.

[HillWilliam]

40. Dora learned Sign before she left toddlerhood

Cattledogs are superbright and that one was a handful, lemmetoleya. For the first week and a half we had her, she wasn't thriving at all, going from 4-1/2 pounds down to four with terrible diarrhea. The vet bills were just awful and so were our nerves. At wits' end, I switched her from the food she came with (a brand of which I strongly disapproved, but was afraid to upset her system any worse) to a natural brand I trusted and she started bouncing back overnight. I would shake the bag and ask, "Hungry?". This went on a few more days until we were sitting on the couch playing "puppy kindergarten" and I shook my fist in the air with the same motion I used to shake the bag and asked, "Hungry?".

The kid look like she'd been gobsmacked. You could see the comprehension take hold -- a Helen Keller "Wah!" moment. Totally beautiful!!

I took ASL and modified it to gross signs a puppy could see ("puppy see, puppy do"). The first thing puppies learn to do is follow their mamas. Her birthmom was gone, so I was all she had left. We worked on making a "home sign" and I taught the same to HillbillyBob. Their bonding got even tighter. It was only a few more months before she started volunteering to alert for his seizures. I really think if the two of them hadn't had a language of their own together, she might not have been able to communicate the fact to him and he surely would have missed it. Dora's sign is still wonderful and it's our "secret language" together :)

I was sorely underemployed the first year of her life so I had lots of time to lavish on her. My companion, Sadie, also lavished lots of attention on her. Sadie had gotten to foster a lot of rescues in her time, but she never got to keep a puppy of her very own. My older companion, Ashley-the-first, was Dora's great-auntie who taught her dignity and how to coyly charm humans for attention. Together, they taught her things I couldn't; things Good Dogs, whole dogs ought to know. I could teach her how to deal in the world of humans. Between all of us, she absorbed education like a sponge. She still loves learning new things because we always make it a game called Who's the Slickest of Them All.

Sadly, Ashley I didn't live for very long after Dora's arrival; she was already quite elderly. When the elder Ashley began to fail, Dora would go out with her and hold her up, standing beside her as a brace while an old lady did her business. Came the day when Ashley could rise no more, Dora went out to the back yard, whittled down a black walnut with those incredibly sharp cattledog teeth and extracted the nutmeat -- absolutely perfectly whole and unblemished -- and deposited on Ashley's pillow. When Ashley lifted her head, you could see the gratitude in an old lady's eyes. Dora pushed the nutmeat over toward her and touched noses with her.

Don't anyone tell me that animals don't have compassion. Dora was only 6 months old at the time, but wise far beyond her age and species. Far nobler than nearly every human I've ever known. I cry unashamed every time I think of this, proud to know such creature and grateful to Whatever There Is that I would be allowed to live with such a one.

Remarkably, she loves us and forgives us our human frailties. But she knows she's always safe and that I will never, ever, ever lie to her.

[Arugula Latte]

34. I wish we could inflict the same punishment on the fucking bastard who did that.

Hang him from a tree, feed him antifreeze, and beat the crap out of him ... Sounds about right for him. :grr:

[PatSeg]

36. What a sad story!

I'm so glad he will get a loving home. He's beautiful!

[AtomicKitten]

37. Justice will be served if the perpetrator is fed antifreeze, hanged & beaten.

:mad:

[JFN1]

41. How I hate animal abusers...

Poor puppy - hope he gets a good home.

[Lil Missy]

42. OMFG. Why? WHY?? ... do people do such cruel shit like this???

I hope you get that gorgeous pup, Mari. And love him up to pieces!

[mnotr2]

44. As the proud parent of an abused dog (formally)

2 1eyed cats 1 3 legged cat Get ready for a lifetime of love and laughter
Good Luck I hope you get him.

[Mari333]

46. welcome to DU!! and thanks

:hug:

[AZBlue]

45. I hope they take that slime, hang him from tree, beat him & feed him antifreeze.

On the flip side...I'm so glad that you might get him - keep us posted. Thank you for reaching out and wanting to give him a better life! :hug: