I did it again....

Anne

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You know how it is that strays come over to you and there's nothing you can do but take them in and help them?

Well, so far it's been mostly cats, but today the stray happened to be a bear-size dog (a mixed German Shepard + Golden Retriever). My mother-in-law almost fainted and was very close to declaring me officially insane...

I talked her into letting me keep the dog in the yard (we live in a small house in their very large backyard), at least until hubby come home this evening and we can get the poor guy to a shelter.

I know that hubby will also freak out when he sees our guest. He always suspects me of secretely wanting to keep all the strays I find as pets. He's perfectly right too... But he is also right about us not being able to keep another pet, especially now that we have our new dog Bambi. Pets are a huge expense...

My heart breaks. He seems to be such a good natured giant (doesn't go after cats and generally relaxed). Chances are we won't be able to place him in a no-kill shelter and he will have to go to the SPCA where they will probably put him down


I try telling myself that this is better for him then the certain cruel death he faced on the streets. He's starved (I fed him and he ate so much!), full of ticks and nearly got run over on the main road (that's where I found him).

Life can be so cruel to animals!
 

catarina77777

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Dear Anne,
I just read your post and I sit here and cry because I can feel your heartbreaking. I've been there too. Fortunately for me, I've been able to find homes for them though. I'm sorry for this event to come upon you or anyone...it's so difficult to deal with.
Take care & my prayers are with you.
God Bless
Always,
 
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Anne

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Well, hubby did it again too


He was so supportive when he heard about the dog! He said that there was no way to leave a dog by the road like that. And we're going to keep him here for a few days and try to locate the owners or find a new home!!! We're going to put an ad in the local newspaper with his picture and see if anyone recognizes him.

I took off most of his ticks (yikes! I took off almost 2 dozens) and he ate a lot of dog food and drank a lot of water and slept all day long. I think he actually looks better now. I call him Dovik (Dov means bear in Hebrew).

I'll let you know how he's doing.
 

tiggeytoes

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People can be so cruel, abandoning a poor defensless creature. We camp at a campground for the whole summer(luxury camping with a fifth wheel camper and a 25 foot inclosed deck so our 6 angels can spend the summer getting fresh air and watching the birds). A lot of people bring their pets with them, but there are some who bring a cute little kitty in the spring for a summer pet, and then leave him behind to fend for himself in the fall. It is heartbreaking. We have found homes for many such cats, and four of our 6 came from the campground throw-away crowd. Once we had to leave one behind because we couldn`t find a home for him, but we returned regularly to leave food for him. Then, at the end of December we found a home for him, went down and scooped him up. Now he lives in the lap of luxury. My fear is that the day will come when we are unable to help a poor little one. Life surely is cruel for many of these little (Or big Dov) ones.
 

mr. cat

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I'm so happy to learn you're able to take care of Dovik, at least until a humane outcome is at hand. Bless you all!



It is, indeed, heartbreaking to contemplate our species' general relationship with all other species! From whence it came is surely a very long story, but it's immoral no matter its origins.



=^..^=
 

catarina77777

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Dear Anne,
What a blessing your husband are...I'm not worried about Dovik, I know in my heart you won't let anything happen to him...I just know that...I thank God for people like you and I do thank HIM for this site!
God Bless You Anne, Hubby & Mom-in-law
too! Of course all the babes...

Always,
 

hissy

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Dovik, I hope will be yours very soon. Sounds like he has found the right place to end up. Strays are so sad, they can't tell us their stories, but if you look into their eyes, oftentimes, you will see a deep well of sadness and mistrust. It takes a certain someone to open up their home and heart to a big dog- and you are certainly that someone!
 

hell603

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Yeah!!!! three chears for a supportive Husband!!!!!! Thank god for good souls like you and your husband. You guys are
special!
 

kaaren sander

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Anne, You are so good to take in Dovik. I wish you luck in finding his owner or finding him a good home. I have mentioned before that my daughter suffers from the same condition as all of us on this site . Last summer, I came home from work one day to find out my husband had gotten our largest crate out of the storage shed. He said Beth had rescued a puppy and needed the crate. I told him we should take the small crate for a puppy and he said no, they wanted the big one??? Well, the "puppy" turned out to be a ten month old "horse" that definately needed the large crate. The custodian at the school where Beth teaches was planning on shooting it if he couldn't find a home for it! Tilly has turned out to be a sweet, loving baby who thinks she's a lap dog but, can only get her head on your lap
 

kittykratz

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The same story happened to me. I found a German Shepherd mix in my mother's neighborhood roaming around. We kept him for a few days. One idea you may think of, if you think he is just lost...take him to a vet, and free of charge, they can scan him for a microchip. Every animal that gets adopted here in Orange county has a microchip. This is great technology... if the owner wants to be located!! My story has a happy ending. The owner was happy to see him, and she gladly took him back. Of course, I make unannounced visits to his home to make sure he is being well taken care of! I hope you are able to keep Dovik or find him a loving home.
Another avenue to consider...try calling a German Shepherd rescue in your area. You can probably get the number from a veterinarian or local humane society. Some rescues will take mixed breeds. It is worth a shot! Good luck.
 
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Anne

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Thanks everyone for the support! You're all just great!!!

Dovik is still here and seems to be getting better. He is not the jumpy sort of dog and I suspect that he's not very young. I guess it's a good thing that he's not jumpy - too many people would have ended up on the ground if he was


Here's some pictures I took today:





If he wasn't so huge, we might have kept him. But he eats such huge quantities of dog food I'm not sure we can afford to. I am about to call the local newspaper about a found dog ad - maybe his owners will come forward? By the wat, we don't have any breed rescue groups here in Israel - thanks for the idea though.

I am a bit worried as we can't let him in the house. It's a tiny 2 bedrooms house and the cats will freak out if we get another dog inside. So far he seems content to lie around in our porch - do you suppose he couls get lost like that?
 

donna

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Anne,

You and your husband are to be commended! I only wish I could find someone as wonderful as your husband. And Dovik is precious! I'm sure you'll be able to find him a home.

Good luck!
 
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Anne

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Well - here's a little story to prove that I may know a thing or two about cats - but not a lot about dogs.

I told you that I de-ticked him yesterday. Well, yesterday evening he was rolling on his back to let me scratch his chest when I noticed 3 other ticks somewhere on his tummy aroud his genitals, the large full of blood type. So, today I set tick hunting again. Old Dovik is very good about this, so I sat next to him and put some alchohol on the first tick and tried to pull it away gently with the tweezers. I looked at it and thought to myself "that is one ugly tick, looks old and wrinkled". And the tick wouldn't release its hold. I took a closer look to try and see its little legs around its swollen body but couldn't find them. It took me a while to figure out that all of those ugly ticks were actually Dovik's nipples
Lucky I didn't try to burn them off or anything and I only pulled very gently...
 

debby

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Oh Anne!!!!! I got the biggest kick out of that!!! Poor Dovik, trying to pull his nipples off!!!!! LOL
I hope you find a good home for him...he is a beautiful dog!

I too have a problem with strays....I fall in love them them.

A few weeks ago....a little dog, not much bigger than the cats showed up outside our door. She was a Jack Russell Terrior, it turns out....but I didn't know what she was. I fell in love with her. My hubby said no way.....we already have 2 dogs, and one of them was also a stray I took in.

But I kept working on him, and he could see how friendly and sweet she was...and I promised I wouldn't take another one in, if he would let me just keep this one!!!!!

Finally he said okay. I bought her a little collar and named her "peanut" and was going to take her in for her shots soon....but....

Then we found out that someone was looking for her....(we had just assumed she had been dumped, because I had called all my neighbors, and she didn't belong to any of them)

Well, it nearly broke my heart....but I called the lady who was looking for her...and she came to pick her up....they lived several miles away, so I'm not sure why she was so far from home.

The lady pulled in the drive, and I had "peanut" sitting on my lap....turns out her name is "missy" (I like peanut better)

The lady said she got out of the kennel....which made me sad...because we live on a big farm and she could have run loose here.

Peanut/Missy didn't want to go with the lady, and it took her awhile to catch her. I cried. I guess I cry alot...but I was so attached to her...even though we only had her for a few days.

Anyway....a lady I work with sells Jack Russell terriors, and I think i have talked my hubby into letting me maybe buy one someday. I will name it "Peanut"


Good luck with Dovik!
Keep us posted!!!!
 

kittykratz

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Dovik is a beautiful dog! I'm sure you will have no trouble finding him a loving family. Good luck.
 

catarina77777

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Dear Anne,
You must've cringed after that! LOL....poor Dovik...poor YOU too! LOL....Well, at least you were gentle! I would've kept proding the poor guy more than likely, my eyes are so bad. Ya know, actually, that was a valuable lesson to me!
Take Care & God Bless
Always,
 

sandie

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What a cute dog!! He looks like he is a yellow lab/ German Shepherd dog. Hey, can you guys get stuff like Frontline for fleas and ticks there?
 

gayle

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We pet lovers must have "sucker" tatooed to our foreheads, because I have four (4) rescue animals here. Two pomeranians and 2 cats. My girlfriend is bringing me her "mouser" because she is afraid of their new dog. My husband doesn't seems to mind, yet that is.

Dovik is beautiful. I hope this has a positive outcome for all.
 

alpha

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Well, as you can guess he's still here! And now he sleeps by our bedside.... I talked to a local newspaper and they're willing to run an ad about him for free if they have space left. I'll call them on Monday to find out. So he's here for now and I don't see that anyone is too sorry


Yes, we do have both Frontline and Advantage over here but I didn't have the right one for his size (Bambi is about half his size so hers wouldn't do). As it was the first day, I didn't want anyone to get upset about expenses so I didn't buy it but just moved the ticks the good old way. He doesn't have fleas so it's okay for now.
 

kaaren sander

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Speaking of Advantage and Frontline, I finally figured out a way to save money on the Advantage. (Our vet does not handle Frontline so don't know if this would work with it.) I buy one package of the Advantage for the biggest dog and then use a syringe to pull it out of the tube and measure out the proper "dose" for each cat's weight. I did this with the vets approval and it is much less expensive this way. When you are treating eleven cats and a dog every month for six months a year the cost gets to be overwhelming. Hope this benefits someone else.

 
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