Benny and Sparky both ended up
at our house. The shelter seemed to have nothing but Border
Collie mixed puppies for months on end. Benny finally went
to live with another family since he often got into fights
with several of our large male dogs. We felt it best for him
to live in a home where he could be king. So he went to live
in Dover DE where he was the only dog in the house. Sparky
stayed with us while we tried and tried to find him a new
home. He was on some of the rescue websites for almost a
year. Finally, we just decided to let him stay with us since
he felt so at home here. We had a few people interested in
adopting him, but they were never right. One man wanted him
to run his golf course with him while he did maintenance
work. I was not sure that Sparky would obey and stay with
the man. Someone else wanted to adopt him, but they were
away many long hours a day. He had been use to living with a
nice doggie family and having us around most of the time. So
I decided he might not like being home alone 10 or more
hours a day.
Benny had lived at the
shelter for more than 3 months. He was the cutest puppy, but
no one wanted to adopt him. Finally I decided that he was
not getting any training or attention at the shelter and
brought him home. I think living at a shelter in a small
steel cage for over 3 months did emotional harm to Benny. I
think that is one of the reasons that he seemed afraid of
many things and ended up fighting with the dogs so often.
Puppies, just like people, need attention and socializing
when they are small. Sometimes they can overcome a bad start
in life and other times they have a difficult time being a
normal tempered dog.
Sparky was such a beautiful
dog when he was picked up as a stray at the shelter. He was
9 months to a year old. He has not changed one bit since the
first day I met him there. He was so friendly and handsome.
I could never understand why his owners never came looking
for him. He had become so sick at the shelter that he could
not even stand up. Our shelter is a very poor shelter and
did not have money to buy medicine for dogs with kennel
cough. So I carried Sparky out of the shelter and to the
vets to be treated. The kennel cough strain at our shelter
is a tough one and often leaves the dogs with a permanent
cough. Sparky’s throat was probably damaged, according to
the vet, and you can’t even pull on his collar without him
choking and coughing. He requires a harness to walk him. But
he is the most loving and beautiful dog.
Benny seemed to be a Border
Collie and Beagle mix while Sparky seemed to be a Border
Collie and Husky mix. He has the most beautiful full coat
which seems very typical of a northern breed dog.
Patricia Walter
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