April 17th 2011 8:00 pm
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I've always enjoyed going to the shelter and rescues to look at the dogs that they have there. I've never enjoyed seeing the sad faces and knowing what will happen if the dogs don't get adopted. It seems that the shelters here adopt out more cats than dogs. Shelters around the World are piling up with animals. If everyone could spay and neuter there animals then it would be much better.
Since we live on a farm, there's a lot of dogs and cats that come here and most of them are strays. I've had many dogs come and go. I've always loved dogs, they are my favorite animals. Sometimes I'll be walking on the farm and a dog will wander up to me or it'll be over the other side of the fence sitting, waiting there for me to pet it and give it treats (I always carry a pocket full of treats when I walk out on the farm!) just in case I see a dog.
While walking out on the farm a few years ago, I stumbled across a big, hairy, matted, dirty dog! At the time I had a dog, but there was something special about this dog. We decided to keep him. He was a barker at first and was quite aggressive. He was an older dog, too. He had been food aggressive and still is a little food aggressive but that's fine, I wouldn't like any one touching my food while I was eating it either! I thought of many different names, but none of them seemed to suit him. He needed a good name and one that did suit him. The name Howard seemed to suit him perfectly, I think I got it from a movie I was watching.
When Howard came here, he was a little overweight, too. Oh, and was he a beggar and he still is! He will sit underneath the table with his legs spread out, sit his head on your legs and drool all over your pants and give you the "puppy eyes." Those eyes don't work for me anymore, he seemed to get everything he wanted with those eyes and the way he would beg. He never cries or barks when he begs, though. As soon as he came here, we put him on good food and treats and gave him good care and lots of love. Soon, he became a great dog. He is very well behaved now. He knows a lot of tricks and commands. He knows sit, down, heel, speak, shake, high five, low five, jump, beg, go to bed, go out, go away, off, etc.
When he first came here, boy, did he shed, he didn't just shed like any other dog would, he would shed his hair in balls the size of baseballs and they would be lying in just about every corner of the house downstairs! I was walking outside a few days after we decided to keep him and I let out a scream because his hair ball looked like an over-sized rat blowing across the porch and I did think it was a rat.
When I found him, I could tell where someone had put a collar on him tightly and I could see how embedded the collar must of been. He was way out of shape, whoever owned him before didn't care for him at all.
Today he is still loving farm life, running and playing with his brother, Woody who was also found as a stray before I found Howard. Knowing that someone was cruel to these dogs really broke my heart knowing that they were not well cared for at all either. I sit and think about it a lot, what if I hadn't of taken both of these dogs in, what would of happened to them? Would they of gone back where they had come from? How about if they got attacked by another dog or if they got picked up by animal control? God gave me the best gifts I could have asked for.
Even today, Howard is an active, playful, outgoing, smart, good dog! He knows he's a good dog, he knows that he's safe and that he's not going back, he knows that he has a place to call home. Whether it's adopting a dog from a shelter or a rescue, adopting a dog as a stray, adopting a dog online or from a pet store or adopting a dog from a breeder, it's still considered as a adopting a dog because you've adopted that dog to love and care for that dog. Howard's favorite things to do is to do whatever I'm doing and snuggle on the couch with us and watch TV.
We've been through some rough patches with Howard, but what I know is, is that know matter what, he's there for me and I'm there for him. My dogs are the reason I laugh everyday, they keep me laughing, that's for sure.
Such a lovely story! Beautiful story
HUGSSSSSSSSS So glad Howard has a great furever home now! great story, so glad you all have found one another! We wuvs your story, too! It's kinda like my uncle Shasta - he was found as a stray pup someone had thrown out on da side of da road. He's a shepherd mix and was all white when he was found by my daddy's mom. You could see where his collar used to be; it was like he'd gotten too big for 'em, so they dumped him. He also had da mange at dat point, too. But my gramma brought him home anyway, treated his mange and got him tootered (so he'd be smart like me). Dat was about 5 years ago and he's still there! He's a smart, smart boy and guards all their property. It's a great big place dat da fambly lives on wif a few houses and he protects 'em all! He keeps da squirrels at bay and even kills snakes! He makes my gramma happy, too. And when we visit 'em, he takes us all around da property and we get real good 'n dirty! BOL! Just my kinda fun! Til he goes in da pond to cool off-no thanks! Wonderful story! What a well written, lovely entry! Glad you have Howard and he has you! Well done! This is a very loving and moving story.
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April 17th 2011 at 8:34 pm