One of my dogs "Spade" is a black lab / Weimaraner mix whose former owner couldn't keep him (for reasons we were not told by the shelter) and who was ~5 years old when we adopted him. Early on, I'd thought about changing his name from what his former owner gave him (since some might find it offensive...like when I yell "Spade!" out the back door for him to come back inside), but decided that was the name he was used to and we'd stick with it. Reading this article, besides making me tear up of course, made me think about Spade and how we were right to not start calling him by a different name. He was insecure enough after we got him; we've had him about 2 years now but for the first year he had a very severe case of separation anxiety and would go into a semi-panic when we left the house to go to work. The vet said it's commonly known as "recycled dog syndrome" and put him on Prozac -- which actually helped a fair amount.

I can only imagine what goes through a dog's brain when all of a sudden they aren't any longer in the home they knew for years and without the human companions they've known.

 

Myself, I dont think I could trust another shelter dog

 

Great story!!! Even if I ended up looking like Tammy Baker, scared the crap outta my husband. Shelter dogs/strays are the best they know you saved their life. I've got two Danes no that amount of money would be enough to give them up.
Rhonda

 

Hmmm, made my eyes leak.

 

Both of our dogs were strays that just wandered up. It seems that rescues are always the best dogs.

Great story

 

Figures that I read this after dropping the boys off at day care for a day of indoor playing and swimming with their friends

Going to have to wait until 4:00 to give them a big hug, think I just developed allergies...

 

Awesome story. 3 years ago my wife started a new job at a nature center here in Knoxville. People drop stray animals off in the park from time to time. She found a 4 month old choclate lab running with a collar and tags and no owner. She grew up with labs, so she got him out of the pond he was playing in and started looking for his human. No luck, so she brought him back to her office. He plopped on the floor and rested his chin on her feet. Took a picture of him and sent it to me, i died. But, we live in a pretty small apartment.. so she started calling vets and found a contact for his owner. Turns out the guy had terminal cancer and could not take care of him, so he dropped him in the park. We boarded him for a week, and her parents came up for Thanksgiving holidays. Knowing her dad had a heart four times larger than normal, we picked up Marley from the boarding place and let the two meet. He was pretty bad on the leash at first, tugging and pulling... her dad wasn't so sure. So, we took him back to the boarding place for the night. Her parents talked about it some more, and her dad wanted to see him one more time. We go to pick him up again and Marley the dog was out back in the yard at playtime. When we walked to the door, all the other dogs lost their minds, Marley was sitting the back by a tree, just wagging his tail. That sold her dad.. they adopted him that day and took him home that night. Those tow have been inseperable since that day. He will play and fetch with anyone, but you can tell the way he looks at her dad that he knows... that's my human!! Too sweet of a dog...

 

Great story thanks for sharing! Now I need a tissue <sniff sniff>

 

For what it's worth....It's a great and moving story but unfortunately appears to be fiction. Still a great story though.

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/reggie.asp

Note: I'd posted a quote here with a short excerpt from the above article on Snopes.com, but decided that in fairness to Snopes, which provides a wonderful and valuable service to the Web community, to encourage people to just click on the link and read the details there. Snopes appears to have checked this one out quite thoroughly in hopes that it were true, but they could not verify a single one of the story's aspects.

 

I kind of wondered when I read it, but decided I liked the story too much to "be disappointed". However, I like this quote right at the end of the Snopes article you point to:And I think, that is what moved most of us, even though we'd like to blame it all on the dog.

- Jack

 

Great story, thanks for sharing!

 

great story

 

True or not, it hits home.

Thanks to all our service people that keep us safe..

 

Awesome story...Seems like Im not the only one whos allergies suddenly kicked in after reading this. Thanks from an Afghan and Iraq vet.

 

GREAT STORY DUDE!!! I got my 1st lab to myself by default....We always had labs since I could remember growing up in our family (my parents separated and he got a new one) and when my dad passed away and my mom promised him she would keep her but he never gave her any "manners" as a pup. After my mom kept her for a year she said I either had to take her or she would get rid of her (she already had an old timer yellow lab and 2 dogs was too much for her). I said I would take her because that was a piece of my dad that was still around. Needless to say, I trained her hard for a year...it took time and a lot of patience but I never gave up....now I have a dock dog, a pheasant/duck hunter, a best friend, and a piece of my dad that still keeps going on til this day. Sue started out as a $120 barn special without papers, and now she runs circles around my friends labs (that they paid $500 plus for). She is well behaved and gentle to toddlers with a great demeanor. She'll protect us and let me know if anything comes around. Anyway your story made me teary eyed and writing this has made me the same. She is 4 years old now and apart of the family, my wife hated dogs until she met Sue. I don't look forward to her passing but I will have another pup eventually when she starts to meet the end of her road so she can teach the new one. Our newest traing is to teach her to find deer sheds and its going great. She is truly apart of the family...here is a pic of her with her "dolly"! Labs for life!