Samson, a GSD with pneumonia

I've been planning to start this blog for a while, and had planned to start out with something heartwarming and cheery, but that's not the way the rescue world works, is it? Yes, there are bright moments, but they are too few and far between. Mostly, it's about dealing with sick, injured, neglected, or abandoned dogs.

Samson, the German Shepherd Dog shown here, was dumped in a shelter at about 1.5 years of age by an owner who "didn't have time" for the dog (this is a classic excuse, we will get to them all in later posts). People convince themselves that they are doing their dog a favor by taking him from the only home he's ever known and dumping him in a strange and scary environment in the hope that he will find a new home. In Samson's case, the owner had probably paid a good sum of money for the dog and had had him since he was a pup. When he was dumped at the shelter Samson shut down, withdrew, stressed out, and got sick. This was not a bad shelter, but some dogs just don't do well even in very good shelters. When I got him to a vet a couple days out of the shelter he weighed only 63 pounds (down from over 80 a few months ago), was running a fever, and had a case of pneumonia.

And yet, Samson was a lucky one. The shelter staff tried to help and they tried to get him out. Because of his breed, his age, his looks, he got out of the shelter and into a foster home. When the pneumonia is cleared up and he gains some weight, he will be a handsome and highly adoptable dog. I'll be fending off requests from marginally qualified people while looking for the perfect home for him. You'll see Samson again when he's looking and feeling better.