Bruiser was your typical boxer. He was a beautiful brown boxer with the black
muzzle. He got his name due to the fact
that anytime he would wag his tail (the stub that it was) he would shake his
entire hind end. When he would
accidentally hit you with his hind end he was so muscular that he would leave
bruises. The story of how he became my
first rescue is one that is hard to explain.
My friends’ daughter first met Bruiser at her bus stop. He some how found his way to her door step
later that day and that is when she called me asking what we should do. I went and picked her and the dog up and we
went to the pound because we were sure he would have had someone looking for
him or at least have a micro-chip being that he was a full blooded boxer and he
was unaltered. However the scan came
back negative for a micro-chip so the search became that much harder to find
his family. As a side note to anyone
reading this as rescues we always check for micro-chips it is the easiest way
for us to reunite you with your lost 4- legged companion so please consider
getting your pet micro-chipped. We
posted on Craigslist and other social media trying to find an owner over a
month’s time to no avail. So now the
task at hand was to find him a good forever home. Bruiser was a jumper, he could get out of a
chain link fence and we were afraid that he would get hurt if given to a family
that had one.
We again posted on Craigslist but this time for a home. We got a phone call almost immediately that
day and we thought it sounded like the perfect home for this guy. We didn’t realize we were dead wrong. When I got to the house with Bruiser I saw a
house that looked very nice. I met
people who were very sweet and generally seemed to fall head over heals for the
rambunctious boxer in front of them.
Knowing that I wanted to make sure that they did not have a chain link
fence, I asked them to show me their back yard.
That is where the red flags started popping up. They kept telling me that it was a great back
yard and dodging my request to see it.
Being the relentless person I am I pursed my request telling them I
wouldn’t leave the dog without seeing their backyard. They finally agreed but the wife went through
the house saying “she would get the other dogs under control” before we got
back there. Her husband took me around
the front to a fence that seemed to be ok (it was a six foot wooden fence and
seemed very sturdy) so I was beginning to think maybe I was wrong to feel the
way I did when I first met them.
Again the man tried telling me that this was what their
entire fence was like and that I didn’t have anything to worry about but I
again told him I need to see the whole backyard. I was also curious to see how the dogs did
together. In all honesty I was trying to
make an excuse to see what they were trying to hide because at this point I
knew in my gut they were hiding something.
When he relented and opened the gate to let me see the backyard I was
appalled. I saw a German Shepherd who
was extremely under weight. 2 small
white dogs that had never been groomed and were matted to the point being
unrecognizable by breed. However, that
wasn’t the worst. I had to see the
skeletal remains of a dog in the corner of the yard and I had to come to the
realization I had come to late to save that poor little dog. Obviously seeing what I saw would have meant
that leaving Bruiser with these people would possibly be the death to him. I lied to get us both out of there and as I
drove off I called animal control. They
were cited for neglect and all the animals were taken away. Bruiser later found his forever home and is
living a great life with his new family but the images of that backyard are
forever burned into my memory. I never
thought that I would ever see something worse than that but again I was
wrong. I had to meet Marigold the dog I
mentioned above who had acid poured on her.
I am sure I will meet another dog or situation that is worse off then
these two situations but I hope to never have too.
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