[freki]

My Kenya came from a local animal shelter, which is a kill shelter. I was looking for a dog to adopt because my previous dog of 14 years had just passed away. I randomly went in and fell in love with this massive beauty. The shelter was hesitant to adopt her out, they were already planning on putting her down because they thought she was a wolf hybrid. I talked to them for a while and convinced them that I was able to take care of her. They had to talk to city council first to see if they wanted to allow a dog of "her nature" within the city, but a few days later when I went back all was good to go. They assumed she was about 4 years old and the person that brought her in said she was lingering around their back yard for a few days so they called the shelter because she was scared.

Kenya turned out to be about the most lovable thing ever. She loves interaction and formed a bond with me almost instantly. I don't believe she's a hybrid at all, but more likely an Akita/Shepard mix of some kind. I've worked with her a lot and she is now fairly social and listens well. She's very independent, intelligent, and happy.

This was the day I brought her home

[Dutchie]

freki- that is one beautiful dog!!!

[Gauge23]

I adopted Gauge 8/04/2007...he is my first rescue dog. He's a black lab mix (chow maybe) and was about to be euthanized. He is heartworm+ but we are getting him treated for it. He started his first round of treatment 8/06/07 and went back today for the second round. I wish I could up load a picture! He is so sweet. He has a cauliflour ear from having an ear infection and no one treating him for it and a scar going across his eye from a fight or something I assume. He's a character!

[_Jack_]

freki-that is a gorgeous dog!!

We just rescued Jack from our local shelter! he is a german shepard/lab/hound dog mix. He was surrendered because he jumped! He's now 5 1/2 months old and so far he's doing really well with the kids and is catching on to his training amazingly and he's only been her for a few days!

[magldg41]

Remmington (Remmy) was "rescued" from a lady that is a dog trainer, she had 5 dogs already. She resuced him for real where he was just in the woods, and she said it took them about 3 hours to catch him because he was sooooo timid and scared. It took him a week to get off the back door mat and come socialize. I just let him be and he came around, and now has the labrador lean The other, Django was rescued from another no kill shelter and he is a mastiff cross, but I am not really sure what he is. He was found by the shelter with 4 others in a box in the target parking lot. Hes a playful goofy puppy, and they are both SOOOOO good with my kids. My one year old just lays all over them and they are patient with him. Hopefully these couple of pics will come out. BTW my son is inspecting the Django's

[TeddieXRuxpin]

I have four dogs all of which are rescues.

Mahalo is a Corgi/Malamute and she was a reacue from one of our SPCA's. She was rescued along with her twin brother because their owners weren't taking good enough care of them.

Buster Brown is a Lab/Doberman mix and just a big baby. He's 80 lbs of pure love and joy. He was an owner surrender when he was just 8 weeks old.

Duncan Hienz is a Heeler and he was also an owner surrender when he was 8 weeks old. He's our muscle man. He's like the energizer bunny!

And Teddie Rxupin my baby. He is an almost two year old stray Shih Tzu. Our other three babies are family dogs, but Teddie is all mine. I just finished making a thread all about him if you'd like to know more.

[Jak]

I got my Husky , Jak, from a Siberian Husky Rescue in CA. He came into the shelter as a stray. After that he was rescued, but they felt that he wasn't active enough and returned him. Luckily for me, I saw him online and was able to get him. It's been a little rough so far. He had gotten infested with ticks, so we're still trying to get rid of them. He's also gnawed through a collar, and caught a opossum. But he's the best, it still boggles my mind that such a great dog was just waiting to be adopted in a rescue. He can be snoozy, but when he snaps into play mode his power is just crazy.

[Yvette]

DaKota a nieghbor of mine had (with 4 other dogs). They were evicted & moving out of state. They couldn't/didn't find homes for all thier dogs & were going to drop them off on the highway. DaKota was the worst looking of the bunch. My boyfriend convinced them to bring DaKota to our house instead &
that he would have the vet at his work put her to sleep. We weighed her at 33 lbs. She was 1 1/2 years old. When he took her to work to be put to sleep
the vet looked her over & asked why we were putting a healthy dog to sleep?
She was only starved, sevrely beaten as we found out & was drugged with illegals that the teenage boys have given her. That was in 2001. She is now a happy healthy girl who loves to be loved & praised.

Glitzie came from my work. Her owners go away alot & she was boarded with us alot. About 90% of the time they had her. They felt bad for her as they knew she was a great family dog. They knew that I rarely go on vacation or go away, so they asked if I would want her. I said most definitley! So here she is. DaKota just adores her! Even though I had them both spayed. DaKota takes on the Mama role with Glitzie. It's kinda funny to watch a German shepherd protecting a little Pug & reprimanding her also.

[JTLABMIX]

JT is a pound puppy. He was brought into the pound with his mom and five siblings. When I went to get my puppy he was in a kennel with a brother and a sister. He never had to be alone so that makes me happy.
Kate was a golden retriver we found as a free to good home ad. We got her when she was 10 months old. Had to house train because she was an outside dog at her former home. It turned out she had very bad sizures(paralized her esophgus) and we had to put her to sleep.
The very first family dog we had was Apollo. He was also a free to good home dog. He was 2 years old when we went to get him. It was raining,and being an Old English Shepard, he was a mess. I took him in to get groomed and was questioned as to why my dog was in such bad shape. With the matted, soaking wet hair we couldn't tell that his previous owner had almost starved him. He was all angles with no roundness anywhere on him. We got him home, fed him up and he ruled the house for 8 more years. It was the worst day when we had to put him down but he will be at the bridge waiting with Kate and my chilhood dog Yo YO.

[starry15]

nice pups!! Star was a shelter dog. I rescued him. If I wouldnt of gotten him that day, they would of put him down.

[Love's_Sophie]

Well, both of my pups are rescues.

Sophie came from our local Humane Society. She was from a litter of 10 that was dumped off at the shelter. Her other siblings had already been adopted out by the time I went looking for a dog last June. I was looking for a younger dog, then she was (6 months), and they had some, but those puppies weren't ready yet, and none of them 'clicked' with me. I moved onto the other kennels, stopped in front of Sophies run, and she at there and looked at me through the bars with her big soft brown eyes. I knew then that she was the one. I took her out, played with her for a little bit, then moved on, and looked at the other dogs; making sure, that my 'gut feeling' was right about this one. There were some cute dogs there, but I kept returning to that little spunky black Border Collie mix. I went to the front desk and told them my fiance and I would be back later to look at Sophie again, and possibly take her out on trial. Well, we never took her out on trial; we brought her home that night...Lol!!!

And Dominoe...well, he was a 'true' rescue, in that one day, when I was sitting at home, and I was heading out the door to go pick up my husband from work, I heard a high pitched yipping howl from the side of our apartment. I followed the sound and here was this little imp of a dog. He had this little body, and big head that made him look so goofy. I picked him up, and he was nothing but bones, and hide; he had a pot belly, indicating a belly full of worms. His coat looked horrible. I didn't know what our landlord was going to say, but I couldn't just leave him out there. So I plopped him in the backseat of our van with Sophie and took off to go pick up hubby. Got there, and told him I had something in the car to show him; he fell in love instantly. We bought food, a collar, leash, etc. Then called around and asked if anyone had lost a puppy (doubtful...we figured he'd been dumped), then informed our landlord. He made the mistake of holding the pup, and looked at Sophie, and said, "well, it's no good to be alone"...we knew then, it would be okay to keep him...Lol!

[Cooper's Mama]

My boyfriend and I rescued Cooper at a shelter in Lake Ariel, PA. He was 8 weeks old. He will be 3 years old in January. Time really flies!

There really isn't much of a story. I found his picture on petfinder.org and we went down on a Friday night after work to see him and left with him that night. No questions asked. The lady at the shelter told me he had been with a foster family. Other than that, there is no info on him. Being how he was only 8 weeks old, there probably wasn't much to tell!! He is now a very spoiled, well taken care of dog!

Health wise, he was underweight (he weighed 13 pounds), had worms and was in desperate need of a bath.

[blitherngidiot]

Meet Bounder, or Boundie, as he's affectionately known. Boundie is a Lhasa Apso that my late husband and I adopted in December 2005. He was picked up off the streets in Orlando, FL and was to be euthanized except that some kind soul called Yorkie Friends Rescue. His hair was so matted he had to be completely shaved. On top of his head it was so bad, it was causing his eyes to bug out, resulting in cherry eye. YFR named him "Bob Marley" because of his "dreds". He was also extremely malnourished to the extent that he spent 10 days at the vet's being fed through a trach tube inserted in his throat. He actually wasn't expected to live. But he did!!!!!!! When he was finally stable and well enough to come to us he weighed about 16 lbs and still had virtually no hair. Today people are amazed when I tell them he's a rescue baby. He's +/- 4 y/o, 23 lbs (a pretty big boy for a Lhasa) and if he's not groomed on schedule---once a month---well, he's just a mess. He's very social and thinks EVERYBODY's his new best friend. He's as stubborn as any Lhasa has ever been. Right now he's on a kick that he's not going to eat unless I hand-feed him, but I think that's because he's still grieving the loss of his Daddy. Since he's best when he's got a constant playmate, I'm adopting a sibling for him that we're scheduled to pick up tomorrow, another rescue, this time a Lhasa/Westie mix. This should be interesting! Munchkin, aka Munchie, is only about 12 lbs and +/- 2y/o...solid white (typical Westie). While I'm not particularly looking forward to maintaining a white baby, I'm very excited for Boundie because I know he needs the company. And we'll both love Munchie---he'll be a wonderful addition to our family!

[Addison]

My baby is Addison. I had been going to the anti cruelty shelter in Chicago for weeks looking for a dog. On the day I found her, she had only been there a week but was transported from another shelter. There really was not much of a story behind her except that she was not wanted due to her high energy level (but what can you expect from a husky ) I love her to death and now I volunteer at the shelter and my boyfriend and I hope to find another great puppy soon.

[zoesmom]

You all have touching stories and it's so nice to see all of the compassionate hearts out there

I have 3 dogs, 2 of which are rescues from www.abtr.net American Boston Terrier Rescue.

Fenway, was found as a stray, he had bad cherry eye, un-altered, and was very skinny and malnourished. A few surgeries and a whole lot of lovin and he's a chunky, happy pup like he should be

Piper was owned by people that didn't believe in dogs in the house, keeping her (6 month old puppy) and her brother outside in Texas heat, with little food and no attention. She too ended up with American BT rescue and thankfully made her way to our home as well. She has severe seperation anxiety, and a few things we are working on, but she is a sweet cuddly little girl.

I am the lucky one, to be able to give these wonderful souls a home and share my life with them.
We also have 4 cats. The most recent made his way into our yard, and hasn't left our house since

[Obstacle]

When my boyfriend and I decided to move in together we knew that we wanted a "dog friendly" abode. Once we got everything settled and unpacked, we decided it was time. The stipulation I had was that we had to get a puppy/dog from a shelter, and not just get one because it was cute, I wanted it to have interest in us when we were checking it out. We looked at local shelter for a few weeks on Saturdays, and met nice animals, but no one that we thought was for us. My parents were visiting us for Labor Day 2006 and we had no solid plans. When we moved my parents weren't able to help us, so I think they were really interested in helping us with a different "big moment" in our lives. We went to Petco because a local shelter is there on weekends, and no luck there either, only a dog that wanted to attack and scratch me. While there we looked on Petfinder. My boyfriend really wanted a Weimaraner, we did all of our research, but knew the odds of finding one in a shelter, and one that liked us, weren't good. He then was looking at Labs. By a stroke of luck perhaps, at a shelter in a small town I had never heard of (this is Southern Illinois afterall ) had a Chocolate Lab/Weimaraner mix listed, and on the site he was quite handsome. We called Ginny (the lady who runs the shelter from her house), and had to leave a message. She returned our call, said that Chili (his name is now Boskydell) was still there. We drove to virtually the middle of nowhere to meet a dog that we may not even like, and we met. It was perfect! He was energetic like we wanted, he wanted attention, he liked to play, and was in need of a home. We left with him about 30 minutes later.

He was quite sick when we got him, had two types of worms and had been in some sort of fight by the battle wound under his eye. But after a few weeks of meds and proper diet.....13 months later the once 37 pound dog is now 70, and just as happy as the day we met him. Although I think a bit happier, he's pretty spoiled. We have no idea where he came from or what his story is, he was housebroken when we got him, about 9 months old, and knew a few commands. He does act oddly to the sound of horses on tv though, so we like to believe he once lived on a farm or around horses.

[Max'sHuman]

I grew up with dogs. My first best friend was a miniature poodle named Heba. After he died I relentlessly begged my parents for a dog of my own. We subsequently had two dogs, but neither of them were "my" dog. Don't get me wrong, they were great dogs but they were devoted to my Mom and mainly tolerated me. Now that I am older my parent's dog Trina likes me a lot more, she just doesn't particularly like children and I was 9 or 10 when we got her.

When I was a junior in college and moved into my own apartment the idea of getting my own dog returned with a vengeance. My roomate hated dogs and didn't want me to get one, so I didn't and it was probably a good thing because as an undergrad I wouldn't have had the money to take care of one.

Now I am in graduate school. A lot of my friends have dogs and I have a little bit better of a financial situation, at least I'm financially independent (give or take some student loans :-P). I started spending every day on Petfinder, Craigslist and shelter websites looking at pictures of dogs. I saw so many cute faces but kept talking myself out of it because I wasn't sure if these adorable puppies would be more than I could handle. Until I saw Monty (now Max).

The shelter volunteers described him as a move in ready special. He was said to be house-trained, pretty well socialized, friendly, with car and leash manners. He had the terrier look I love and was small enough for my apartment. When I emailed the shelter and described my living situation they said he could be a great fit. As soon as I got that email I had to go meet him. I was at the shelter before they opened. This adorable little brown dog came into the visiting room, put his paws on my legs and stole my heart. Now he's at home and we're getting used to each other and I'm learning to be a good dog mom. Max is MY dog and I'm HIS human and I'm so glad I could give him a home.

[ar3151]

Melody - adopted from the SPCA - got her at around 4-5 months.

Ceaser and mickey - rescued from a lady that was housing a bunch of dogs from a SPCA that was overcrowded. at first only wanted 1, but i couldnt split 2 brothers that have been together since birth.

[ACampbell]

Oh where to start...
Jessie - Catahoula/greyhound mix - got her from the shelter (grandparents still have her, she's 5 or so) because I felt bad for her, really skinny and covered with fleas to the point when I washed her in flea shampoo (she was too young but it was so bad my vet said to go ahead with it) and she howled for about an hour and scratched herself raw with the dying fleas...it was so bad you could see everywhere she'd been because there was a trail of dead bugs.
Tigger (cat) - Saw some approx. 10-12 yr old kids throwing a furry baseball, pulled my truck over to see it was a kitten...took her home, covered in fleas, ticks, missing an eye and respiratory illness. She was barely able to walk so she was really young but she healed up nicely and survived...those nasty little twerps weren't found by the police. My mom has her now, I'm allergic to cats, and Tigger is the meanest damn cat I have ever met in my life.
Carl - Border Collie gotten from the shelter (he had been returned to teh shelter 4 times by the time I got him)...could not stand this dog, too hyper for me, so gave him to a friend with a ranch...he loves herding cattle!
Meatball - GSD/sneaky neighbor dog mix - got him at 5 weeks old from someone who was going to "drown" him as they had already given away the rest of the puppies, I was shocked they were that young. I bottle fed him with left over baby formula as my son was 3 months old...I still have him but he is being rehomed with a friend of mine who needs a companion and loves him.
Sparky and Sweetie - Came as a pair, Sweetie has a large tumor and her owners were sending her to the pound because they were moving...I felt so bad for her I begged my husband to keep her...his reply "Yeah ok whatever, but I'm not taking care of the damn thing" - she is now his favorite dog.
Smokey - Bullmastiff/APBT mix - My mom "rescued" him visiting a friends house, their neighbor had him chained in their gravel yard with about 4 feet of chain, he was severely underfed and was abused because he wouldn't fight...you can't tell from the pictures, but he is covered in scars, from his head down to his chest...she brought him up here because she has 9 dogs already (all rescue) at the ranch for me to get him a good home...he found one, I once again, begged hubby to let me keep him.

[dane&cockermom]

buddy (my cocker) was a rescue. he was an owner surrendor. he was owned by an older couple since he was a pup. they were a little too old to be handling a little rambunkious cocker. we adopted him when he was 3 and he really was a piece of work! aparently the couple couldn't really get up to take him out, so he pottied in the house all the time...he was just a little terror! even at the age of 3 when they're "supposidly" coming out of that state. a little more than a month before that, we had put our first cocker down. he was my mom's mother's day gift because she was very upset about putting the other one down, but when i moved out, i took him with me. lol

gwen (my dane) we just rescued about a month ago. we met her a "meet and great" for the Great Dane Rescue of the Common Wealth at an adoption event in a school yard. we had gone that day with every intention of getting a dog. we spotted her with her bright yellow "adopt me" bandana on and went to check her out. she came right up to my husband and i and leaned up on my husband. it completely shocked and surprised everyone at the tent because he was terrified of men. her foster family said she would cower and growl at foster dad, and were so excited she came right up to my husband that they were like "so...she's up for adoption! =)" i feel for her hard! but we decided to continue to look around, but always ended up back at the tent with her. we couldn't resist, we had to have her. a week later, she was in our home. she was also an owner surrendor. her previous family's mom got very sick and was on $650 worth of medication a month and could no longer afford to feed her, and knew the best thing for her was for her to go to a new home.

i could not ask for better dogs. either of them. buddy took a lot of work. he obviously had no discipline before us, but he's perfect now. and gwen, omg gwen is amazing. i haven't done a single thing with her yet as far as training goes, and she's perfect! <3