Heroic Dog Shot 5 Times While Protecting his Family (Hero Dog-in need of adoption!)

ktla.com ^ | 3/14/2010 | Staff

[the OlLine Rebel]

The dog was described as “Shepherd MIX”, and all you see is a head - with what appear to be half-prick ears.

[kalee]

I work in rescue. Owners faced with huge medical bills often call asking us to take the dog because they can’t afford the treatment. We are not an insurance company to cover bills that owners can’t pay.

On the other hand I will direct owners to services who can help them with the bills or who provide low cost treatment. I do not want to accept dogs but would prefer to help people work out their issues with surrender being the last resort before they take the dog to the pound and dump it.

[kalee]

You or I would do everything we could to keep our dogs but other people don’t see it the way we do.

Some people have a very cavalier attitude and “it’s a dog to them means, this one is broken we’ll get another, it can be replaced” I call those the one way street relationship types. They take from the dog but have nothing invested in the relationship themselves. If the dog becomes a burden of any kind they look to dump it. I have had people signing the surrender papers on 10 year old Mabel with diabetes while they laugh and giggle about the new puppy they are going to get.

Some people really can not even afford basic medical care and when the dog is injured or gets ill and is taken to the vet the dog hasn’t had any shots nor heartworm preventive and most likely has never been groomed. The dog is in terrible condition physically. Sometimes the vet will talk them into surrendering.

Then some people have a catastrophe death in the family, loss of job, move and can’t take the dog, so they need to place it.

I should say I do not know any more of the facts in this case than what was presented in the article. I am just trying to give my experiences as someone who does Rescue. I try to work with owners to avoid surrender. Rescue is hard, we can’t save every dog and we deal with some really strange people and some really damaged dogs. I have seen and heard it all.

Including the people who have been told their pet needs to be euthanized but they don’t want to make that decision. They want me to take the dog to the vet to have it put down. sigh I tell these people that their dog has loved and trusted them all of its life and ask them to think “who would you want at your bedside when you die a loving family member or a stranger?”.

I do everything I can to provide resources to make surrender the final option and I try to be a gentle conscience prick to the owner when sometimes I would like to shake the person and scream “just sign the papers, give me the dog and please do us all a favor and don’t ever get another dog!” IE the 7 month old abused puppy who was crated from 6AM until 10PM and beaten because he barked from boredom and soiled him crate. I accepted his owner’s surrender but the poor little guy had food aggression issues that made placing him impossible. He lived with us until he passed away in Jan from a heart condition at age 6. I We loved him and hope that love in our family made up for the terrible time he had as a puppy.

Sorry for the rants. I guess I am just trying to say there are people who surrender out of selfishness and people who surrender out of selflessness. I don’t know enough facts to judge Champ’s case. I do hope he recovers and goes to a home where he is spoiled and loved as he deserves to be.