| 48) (Duke's photo
is not available) Duke's family in Oklahoma decided
that he was an aggressive 2 year old Sheltie and had to be put down.
They brought him into the vet and left him there for the deed to be
done. The vet, thank goodness, realized that Duke was not aggressive
at all and certainly didn't need to be euthanized as such. The vet
contacted Dorothy Christiansen, the national Sheltie rescue coordinator
for ASSA, and she put the word out, asking if anyone was willing to
take in a potentially aggressive Sheltie. The nearby Sheltie rescue
groups were overloaded, so SRU volunteered to take Duke and work with
him. After several very generous donations of travel time from good-hearted
people, Duke arrived in Utah at his new home — a family that
had recently lost their Sheltie to a myriad of diseases that had finally
overtaken him, despite specialized home cooking and lots of love.
The same family also does Rabbit Rescue, so Duke had to be gentle
with the rabbits or he couldn't stay. We're delighted to report that
Duke, the rabbits, and an older beagle named Buddy all coexist very
happily. Duke's new family also reports that they haven't seen any
signs of any aggression from Duke at all — just a Sheltie who's
very happy to have escaped a very (unnecessary) close call. |
| 47) (Max's photo is
not available) Max came to SRU from a woman who called
us as a last ditch effort not to euthanize her 5 year old Sheltie.
She already had the appointment with the vet! She had talked to the
vet about Max's excitable behavior and aggression toward some members
of her family. But she was heartbroken over the prospect of ending
his life and called SRU to see if we knew of any other options. After
some discussion, it was evident that regardless of what options might
be available, this family didn't have the emotional resources to persist
in their efforts with this Sheltie-boy. About the same time, we got
a call from someone who wanted to adopt an un-adoptable Sheltie. We
were amazed at the coincidence. It was love at first sight, and the
feelings that Max's new family have for him have only grown stronger.
Max's new family reports to us that they have seen no evidence of
any aggression from him at all — only Max's happiness at having
been saved and loved. |
| 46) (Gabby's photo
is not available) Gabrielle (Gabby) started out in
Mississippi with a Sheltie Rescue group who was very anxious to place
her because she became aggressive towards other Shelties at feeding
time. They were having difficulty finding a home where she would be
the only dog with a family willing to invest in the training effort
Gabby needed to learn to be a well-behaved Sheltie-girl. The rescue
group sought the help of other Sheltie rescue groups and SRU volunteered
— because we had several potential adopting families that appeared
to be good matches for Gabby. One such adopter had family in the vicinity
of Gabby's home in Mississippi. He drove out to visit with his family
and drove back with Gabby. Gabby was never in foster care under SRU's
auspices. The couple who drove her back to Utah were already in love
with Gabby by the time they arrived back home. Gabby now lives with
an eight month old Collie-girl, Lucy, with whom she gets along beautifully
— even at meal times. Lucy and Gabby both attend training classes,
which they thoroughly enjoy! |
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45) See our In Memorium page for Laddie's story.
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| 44) See our In Memorium page for Lily's story. |
43) Dewey is a very sweet boy who was released to us in
December, 2003, by a couple who found themselves struggling with
the current economic environment and were no longer able to properly
care for him, in spite of loving him very much. .
Unfortunately, when we had Dewey neutered and had his teeth examined,
our vet discovered that 14(!) of Dewey's teeth needed to be removed.
We suspect that this means that Dewey will probably need to be primarily
on soft foods for the rest of his life (poor guy).
To our delight, we got a call from a wonderful family who saw Dewey
on this web site and fell in love with his appearance. When they
visited, it was clear that Dewey was very attracted to them, as
well, to the point of seeking out their hugs and petting (instead
of exhibiting his previous shyness). Dewey is now a permanent member
of this family and is getting all of the love that he deserves.
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 42)
Mattie, who nearly lost his life after his owners both passed
away in a nursing home, has just started a training class with his
new owner, who works at Intermountain Therapy Animals. Mattie, because
of his loving and gentle nature, appears destined to become a therapy
dog and a life-long buddy to Emily, his new Sheltie sister. Emily
is quite picky, so we knew we had to find her a very special Sheltie
brother. Happily, Mattie seems to have persuaded Emily that he's really
a good guy. Lucy Luna, the cat, took to Mattie right away, curling
up against him on the bed his first night in his new home. Another
perfect ending! |
41) Katie was released to Sheltie Rescue of Utah
by a family who had two dogs and discovered that they really had
the resources for only one. Katie is 2.5 years old and is a bit
"leggy" and still has a lot of puppy characteristics in her.
She's very pretty, as you can see from the photo, but she has serious
difficulties trusting men. We think that Katie would thrive in a
household with only women and girls. She is extremely bright and
very trainable. We knew that, if her trust issues could be
overcome, she would thrive in an environment where she could get
obedience and other training, such as agility or other performance
events. Happily, the perfect family came along and Katie made it
very clear that this was to be her new family and that she
would learn to trust her new daddy. (We love these happy
endings!)
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