Rescued Sheltie's background

M

marnie

Forums Regular
Hi everyone. Seems I never have time to chat. Always working either at the shop or at home.

Anyway, I wondered if any of you who have rescued shelties are kind of obsessed with your dog's background. I adopted my dogs from the Winnebago County Animal Control (2 GSDs and one sheltie). WCAC told me where they picked up the dogs but of course didn't know the former address or former owners. I've driven around the areas, even asked people out working in their gardens if they knew anyone who had shelties or German Shepherds. I don't intend to give them back, I'm far too attached now. I'm just more curious than I should be I guess. Anybody else feel the same?
 
I've thought about trying to research Olive's history - but she was pulled from a town neighboring a large military base. So while she could be from an irresponsible breeder in the area, she could have come in with a serviceman/family and ran off/was abandoned, or she could have been a local family got her from a breeder elsewhere in the state. We also moved away from the area so doing research is even more difficult now.

Also, most of my time is now spent researching for papers so adding one more thing to my library list just doesn't sound appealing.
 
We were lucky -- we knew Annie Laurie's whole history from whelping. That included her pedigree and health history.
 
I was lucky too. Baxter was an owner surrender. I know where he came from and have copies of the emails exchanged between the rescue coordinator and the former owner. I know why he was surrendered or what they said anyway?? I also have copies of his vet records, they are very sketchy. I don't think they gave rescue all of them. Baxter was injured at some point before coming here and there is nothing there about that. When rescue questioned the former owner about it he was evasive, she never got a straight answer. We both think he was hit by a car but that's just a guess. I do wish I knew what happened just in case more issues crop up as he gets older.
 
i consider myself lucky too, coz i have got Fifi's vet records. He has no issues of aggression, separation anxiety or any health issues. So at times, like you, I am curious as to why this lovely and healthy sheltie got surrendered. The only clue is Fifi got debarked so I guess the previous owners were not too patient with a vocal dog (?). But again with patience I have managed to teach my baby not to bark unnecessarily.
 
The only time I think about my Forrest's previous owners, is to dream of socking him in the face! Forrest was dumped with 5 other Shelties, in the woods, all lovely purebred dogs. The rescue thought they were from an Amish puppy mill. A couple were HW positive. Forrest is a great dog who was clearly mistreated before he came to us.

But I keep in mind, dogs live in the present, not the past, so any issues about the past are mostly mine, not the dog's.
 
Beau, was a rescue, he was abused and neglected, It took many, many months of patience, for Beau to gain confidence and trust, now he's the sweetest thing this side of heaven as one neighborhood friend stated, "He's a sack of sugar," Yep, that he is, " A sack of sugar" he will go to any one who wants the love of a wet nose and a wiggly butt.


I do wonder, how his previous owners could not have loved him, I just think they didn't understand or appreciate the precious gem they were given, but I do and I make sure I tell Beau that every day
 
I don't know why I'm so obsessive about the backgrounds of these dogs. I put together little clues but I know there will never be a big reveal about any of my dogs. Duff, the sheltie, dances on the stairs so he obviously lived inside in a two story house. He wants to sleep on the bed so I assume he is used to that. He was crate trained at sometime. He is comfortable being around other dogs and cats so he probably lived with both. He was well groomed and well fed. All these add up to a good home but then why was he a stray running in the parking lot of a baseball stadium. Most of the purebred strays picked up around here are dogs that escaped a fenced yard. It just doesn't add up that his former owner never claimed him. I wonder if something happened to the owner, and since I'll never know, why am I always obsessing?
 
I'm sometimes obsessed about Bela's background. Rescue told me she was a puppy mill rescue from either Tennessee or Missouri, but couldn't (or wouldn't) be more specific. They also said she could have been from a hoarding situation.

I've looked through many accounts and photos of puppy mill and hoarder raids to see if there is any clue about Bela coming from one of them. So far, nothing. She came with only the vet records of the rescue, none prior to that, though she was 5 years old and obviously had had a litter recently.

My vet tends to think she was a puppy mill survivor, given the fact that she has some very old scars on her ears (making one of her naturally tipping ears stand straight up sometimes) and her wary behavior around larger dogs. Also, she has terrible teeth - broken off, and she had 8 extractions before I got her. Vet said this was probably from trying to chew her way out of a cage.

She was so afraid of everything when she came to live with me. Definitely used to the company of dogs but not people. It was pretty obvious that she had never lived indoors before.

The amazing thing is that now, 18 months later, I have a beautiful dog with an awesome temperament, who is full of love for everybody she meets. She still has her wild moments, but they are beginning to get further and further apart. She's living proof that Shelties are naturally resilient, polite, loving, and well-mannered dogs. Couldn't live without at least one in the house!
 
Jaynie said:
I'm sometimes obsessed about Bela's background. Rescue told me she was a puppy mill rescue from either Tennessee or Missouri, but couldn't (or wouldn't) be more specific. They also said she could have been from a hoarding situation.

She was so afraid of everything when she came to live with me. Definitely used to the company of dogs but not people. It was pretty obvious that she had never lived indoors before.

The amazing thing is that now, 18 months later, I have a beautiful dog with an awesome temperament, who is full of love for everybody she meets. She still has her wild moments, but they are beginning to get further and further apart. She's living proof that Shelties are naturally resilient, polite, loving, and well-mannered dogs. Couldn't live without at least one in the house!
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You and Bela are so lucky to have found each other. You can give yourself a lot of credit for working with her to help her get past her fear and trust you. I see a lot of puppy mill dogs come into rescue and they are so emotionally damaged.

I am grateful that none of my dogs came from such a terrible background. It makes me so angry to see these puppy mills doing so much damage and all for profit.
 
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