Post by ilovemycookie on Jan 20, 2009 1:28:05 GMT
The first Shih Tzu we adopted from FOAS was Megan, here is a photo of Megan when she was first rescued
She was a puppy farm breeding girl who had been mated to many times, had to many babies. When at 3.5yrs she became unprofitable to the puppy farmer he sold her on to someone for £25, he took her home put her down in his kitchen and she wee'd on the floor. Bearing in mind she, like so many had spent her life in a cramped, excrement filled cage so knew nothing about housetraining. He thrashed her and put her in the coalhouse where she stayed for I think about 8wks. Eileen will correct me if I have that wrong. Somehow FOAS heard about her and offered to take her into rescue, the chap agreed but wasn't about to let her go for nothing. After being reimbersed he let her go. I think the first time she was held in love was by the person who collected her, she had to have 3 large hernias repaired caused by over breeding and was spayed.
Her foster Mum Glenys helped start her on her journey to being a normal dog and for the first time Megan began to feel safe. When I saw the above picture of her my heart immediately went out to this little one and I'm not ashamed to say I shed many tears over what she had gone through. If you look carefully you can just see her little eyes through the hair, she was afraid to lift her head so kept it down.
She started to improve and shared her first taste of freedom with 2 Bichons who also helped to teach her how to be a normal dog. I applied to adopt her, I felt this little girl belonged with us. We were approved and the waiting began she needed to have her stitches out and have her jabs and get over her operations. The day finally came on March 28th 2006 and my heart sang all the way to meet Eileen. When I first saw her there was such a difference, she was still very shy and fearful of strangers but her coat had grown she looked like a little badger she moved so slow, and she'd started to put weight on.
She was great on the journey home, we didn't crate her, she'd had enough of that she travelled back on my sisters knee. We already had my big girl Deeber, Golden Retriever, who has since gone to the bridge, Paddington and Zebedee. For Deeber and Megan it was love at first sight, they bonded almost immediately and from then on were inseperable. She had some health problems which came to light after a couple of weeks or so. There were problems that couldn't have been diagnosed easily so she was under a specialist for her heart for a few weeks, she has an ability to slow her heart rate down when she's stressed or afraid, this only showed up on the heart scans and MRI she had. They diagnosed a grade 1 heart murmur but she didn't need meds for it. The specialist said she was a special little girl and hopefully would flourish with plenty of TLC. She needed a drastic dental and has only 16 teeth left. Eye ointment for dry eyes which are now as bright as jet buttons.
She had plenty of accidents in the house but we just mopped up and took her outside. It only took 3 days to get her to walk on the lead and it felt just as good as when my grandchildren took their first steps. We had to tread carefully and there were lots of things we had to work through, she would run and hide behind the sofa so I got down on the floor and sat at the end so she could see me. Sudden noises would cause her to bolt, she still does but I think it's just habit now. She was ages before she would drink water which worried us but she saw the Deeber do it and followed suit. Expuppy farm dogs come with a history of cruelty and fear, the farmers tie their feet together and hold them down to make them mate. It's taken a long time slowly and gently touching her feet for her to stop retracting them in fear.
Megan's come on in leaps and bounds as the saying goes, she's bright, cheeky, hilarious, is still sometimes a little fearful to strange things or people. She is my soul mate and I absolutely adore her and her Dad does too. She knows love and gives it back 100 fold, because of Glenys she's a cheese freak, loves her food but isn't greedy, she's also loves pieces of hotdog sausages and cheese sticks for treats. She's the first one at the door when the leads come out, she's got the best recall of them all and when off lead chases around and keeps coming back to me and the others as if to say I'm of lead and you're not!!
This is Megan now, confident, alert and so beautiful and well worth all the work people have put in to helping her live her life as it should have been from the start. Her coats a bit longer now, I sometimes call her my little deputy dooog, she reminds me of the little cartoon character sometimes. We bless the day our little Megan came into our lives and thank FOAS for making it possible, without them who knows what her fate would have been.
Peg xx
She was a puppy farm breeding girl who had been mated to many times, had to many babies. When at 3.5yrs she became unprofitable to the puppy farmer he sold her on to someone for £25, he took her home put her down in his kitchen and she wee'd on the floor. Bearing in mind she, like so many had spent her life in a cramped, excrement filled cage so knew nothing about housetraining. He thrashed her and put her in the coalhouse where she stayed for I think about 8wks. Eileen will correct me if I have that wrong. Somehow FOAS heard about her and offered to take her into rescue, the chap agreed but wasn't about to let her go for nothing. After being reimbersed he let her go. I think the first time she was held in love was by the person who collected her, she had to have 3 large hernias repaired caused by over breeding and was spayed.
Her foster Mum Glenys helped start her on her journey to being a normal dog and for the first time Megan began to feel safe. When I saw the above picture of her my heart immediately went out to this little one and I'm not ashamed to say I shed many tears over what she had gone through. If you look carefully you can just see her little eyes through the hair, she was afraid to lift her head so kept it down.
She started to improve and shared her first taste of freedom with 2 Bichons who also helped to teach her how to be a normal dog. I applied to adopt her, I felt this little girl belonged with us. We were approved and the waiting began she needed to have her stitches out and have her jabs and get over her operations. The day finally came on March 28th 2006 and my heart sang all the way to meet Eileen. When I first saw her there was such a difference, she was still very shy and fearful of strangers but her coat had grown she looked like a little badger she moved so slow, and she'd started to put weight on.
She was great on the journey home, we didn't crate her, she'd had enough of that she travelled back on my sisters knee. We already had my big girl Deeber, Golden Retriever, who has since gone to the bridge, Paddington and Zebedee. For Deeber and Megan it was love at first sight, they bonded almost immediately and from then on were inseperable. She had some health problems which came to light after a couple of weeks or so. There were problems that couldn't have been diagnosed easily so she was under a specialist for her heart for a few weeks, she has an ability to slow her heart rate down when she's stressed or afraid, this only showed up on the heart scans and MRI she had. They diagnosed a grade 1 heart murmur but she didn't need meds for it. The specialist said she was a special little girl and hopefully would flourish with plenty of TLC. She needed a drastic dental and has only 16 teeth left. Eye ointment for dry eyes which are now as bright as jet buttons.
She had plenty of accidents in the house but we just mopped up and took her outside. It only took 3 days to get her to walk on the lead and it felt just as good as when my grandchildren took their first steps. We had to tread carefully and there were lots of things we had to work through, she would run and hide behind the sofa so I got down on the floor and sat at the end so she could see me. Sudden noises would cause her to bolt, she still does but I think it's just habit now. She was ages before she would drink water which worried us but she saw the Deeber do it and followed suit. Expuppy farm dogs come with a history of cruelty and fear, the farmers tie their feet together and hold them down to make them mate. It's taken a long time slowly and gently touching her feet for her to stop retracting them in fear.
Megan's come on in leaps and bounds as the saying goes, she's bright, cheeky, hilarious, is still sometimes a little fearful to strange things or people. She is my soul mate and I absolutely adore her and her Dad does too. She knows love and gives it back 100 fold, because of Glenys she's a cheese freak, loves her food but isn't greedy, she's also loves pieces of hotdog sausages and cheese sticks for treats. She's the first one at the door when the leads come out, she's got the best recall of them all and when off lead chases around and keeps coming back to me and the others as if to say I'm of lead and you're not!!
This is Megan now, confident, alert and so beautiful and well worth all the work people have put in to helping her live her life as it should have been from the start. Her coats a bit longer now, I sometimes call her my little deputy dooog, she reminds me of the little cartoon character sometimes. We bless the day our little Megan came into our lives and thank FOAS for making it possible, without them who knows what her fate would have been.
Peg xx
