New Rescue Dog

This morning it was pouring down rain with a bit of thunder too. My dad and I were heading to the truck, to go to the flea market. Once we were inside, and my dad was about to pull out of the parking area; he spotted a dog behind us. We jumped out of the truck, and noted quickly he was very friendly, just worried and scared. 

We took him to the porch, where everything is covered, so he'd be out of the rain, and informed my mom that he was there. Then, we headed to the flea market, and to run errands. When we got back it had stopped raining, and he was still there. 

Just happy to see us, his tail wagging away. 

We looked online and couldn't find a decent animal shelter that would take a stray, most were either high kill or no kills with terrible reviews on the condition of the facilities. So, we decided to give him a bath in one of our unused water troughs, with antibacterial soothing dog shampoo as he very much needed it. I found an old dog collar and leash in the basement, and then away we went to the front area where the trough awaited him. 

He hopped right in, and very much enjoyed his bath, seeming to have a blissful expression the entire way through. We dried him off, and dad repeatedly tried to call the humane society with no luck. We also put flea and tick prevention on him, since he's covered in them from head to toe. We had no flea/tick shampoo, as we didn't think to get it at the store xD But, the stuff we put on him is very good, and they should come off him within a day or so. 

I set him up on the porch again, whilst dad had to go somewhere. 

When dad got back, my mom came to look at him, and immediately fell in love with the sweet boy. He's very chill, laid back, friendly, and seems like a perfect gentleman. 

He's now in our quarantine dog paddock with a nice kennel with a comforter, and a small trough of water. We also put a bowl of dog food in there. 

If you're sensitive, skip to the end of the post, to avoid talk of his injuries.

I wanted to cover the good stuff before I tell everyone what we suspect is medically wrong with him, along with suspected back history. 

He is in loads of pain, and my mom had a look at him as we noticed some swelling around his neck, chest, and legs. 

Judging by how he walks (more hobbles/limps), we suspect he was hit by a car several months ago, and it went untreated or he has cancer, and is lame because of it. His lymph nodes appear to be swollen, and he has inflammation in his chest and around his front legs.  

He's neutered, and sweet; so we suspect at one point he was someone's pet. But, we don't know if he got out, or was left loose and wondered off, who knows. 

He appears to be about 4-6 years old based on his teeth, and is thin, but not worryingly so. He appears to be a Pointer/Dalmatian/Black Lab mix (somewhere in that realm of breeds xD). 

What we're doing now is keeping him comfortable, but away from our other dogs, as we don't know if he's been vaccinated or not, and if he has anything contagious. 

In about an hour, I'm going to check on him, and heat up some moist dog food for him, to see if he'll eat that, rather than dry food. Plus, I just want to spend some time with him. 

We have agreed that if he doesn't improve in a few days, and no one comes forward about having lost their dog (I'll be posting on social media); we may have to have him be euthanized as his prognosis is very grim at the moment; he'll be buried in our cemetery area with full honor, though if it comes to that. 

But, we will for now, hope it doesn't come to that, and hope he improves. If he does, and no one comes forward to claim him. We might keep him, as he's such a sweetie! But, I know not to get my hopes up, and know the main reason we took him in is to give him a good rest of his time filled with love and compassion. 

End of sad stuff

Name chosen: Oliver aka Ollie

Parents like it, so that's his name now!


Last edited on 2018-07-21 at 17:56:47 by sable silence

Aww, that’s always sad, but at least he found ya’ll!! 

Good news! Ollie's eating! He immediately dug into the royal canine moist dog food right from my hand, and since the taste and smell had gone into his dry food (I dumped the rest in there), he started munching on that too. He was super happy, and I was almost brought to tears. As at least he'll have a nice full tummy! Tomorrow we'll go and pick up some flea/tick shampoo, as well as some moist dog food for him. As that was my last can of moist dog food I think. This makes me so happy, and he ate right out of my hand, so I could feel just how eager he was for food. 

I think some of it is because he's chilled out now and isn't so nervous; so his appetite could've come back. Plus the royal canine food has a nice strong smell to it that the Purina dry dog food doesn't. He seemed to immediately know that I had something good when I brought it in, by the way his eyes lit up. 

I just told my parents and they both cheered. He's truly the talk of farm at the moment, as we're all quite smitten with him. Even if he doesn't pull through, at least he would have spent the last few days in complete paradise, and being loved. 

aww, that's awesome!!! good luck with the doggo! give him a pet for me? ;)

Awe, poor pupper. Glad he's found a good home with you.
To me, it sounds like previous owners may have not wanted to pay for his problems so they may have dumped him. Unfortunately a lot of people do this :( I've had the pleasure to own a dumped klitten before, he was precious, but unfortunately died during his "teenage" stage, I believe perhaps the previous owners might have known about his problems and didn't want/have money to pay for them.. Because who throws away a kitten? I wish I would have had him at the age I am now because I probably would have been able to pay for surgery for him now. My parents don't pay for such things for animals.. they're not animal people... okay sorry for getting off track.
Anywho, I'm very glad you found this dog, he sounds very happy to have found you :) I'm sorry he may have to be put down though :( That's always sad. I'm here for you though ♥

edit; oh sorry, I totes just read your comment. Sounds super great that Ollie is responding to food! I wish the best of luck to both of you c:

Last edited on 2018-07-21 at 21:40:59 by Siren

Aww, he sounds super sweet! I'm glad he found you guys. Hopefully he'll get better. It's exciting that he's eating food. Have you considered taking him to the vet to see what the source of his injuries are? I definitely hope all goes well!

Last edited on 2018-07-21 at 22:01:52 by Oswin

Awww! 😍 what sweet boy, ouch, on his injuries. 😱

I am so happy that you are keeping him.