Gracie needs help...

This is a crosspost from my email... THIS is not MY situation...I don't have room for Gracie or I would foster her... Please contact the writer of the message if you can lend a hand and give gracie a home...

To whom it may concern:

The following email was written by my boyfriend Jim. He went into
great lengths to document every detail about my dog's life and history...Im
forwarding it to you in hopes that you or someone you know may give her
another chance at a peaceful happy life, as there is no way that I may
keep her. As much as possible we would love to stay in contact with
her and visit with her once she is adopted. she is an AWESOME dog, and
would be great as an only dog for a companion. Shes been bounced around
way too many times and needs a permanent, loving home. Send this onto
dog lovers or anyone you think would be a good parent to Gracie. Please
help,
Love Lauren
contact me at this email, lshuty@yahoo.com or call 412-526-0726

heres the email:

The reason I am emailing you is because I am hoping you can help me
place a 21 month old South African Boerboel female, named Gracie, into a
loving home. Gracie has had a rough start to her life. She was brought
over from South Africa for the sole purpose of being a cog in a puppy
mill machine. She was only in the country for 2 months before suffering
from a prolapsed uterus. This condition made it impossible for her to
be used for breeding and the breeder left Grace to die. Gracie laid
there in a cage with her uterus hanging out of her body for four days.
The breeder had left her to die. Another lady who worked with the
breeder at PetSmart offered to take Grace to her vet and have her uterus
completely removed. The procedure was successful and Grace, although
losing forty pounds, was alive and on her way to recovering.
The woman who took Grace in also owned horses. While Grace was
recovering, she would chase the horses and try to play with them. At one
point, she was kicked in the head by one of the horses and suffered hearing
damage and possibly some type of traumatic brain injury. Her ear was
split and constantly bleeding. The woman did not take her to the vet.
Instead, she decided to put Grace up for adoption.
My girlfriend worked at PetSmart and was willing to give Grace a new
home.
Grace's new home would consist of my girlfriend (Lauren), her other
dog Anna (a 55 pound, 2 year old shepherd mix, and 2 cats. Anna has
been known to be dog aggressive in the past, but we thought with lots of
work and supervision, we could break her aggressive and possessive
behavior.
After about 2 weeks, the 2 dogs were getting along fine. No problems
beside minor scuffles and Anna growling. Her ear was treated, and she
was well on her way to full recovery from all she had been through.
Several months later, around labor day, Anna and Grace got into a
fight. Anna, who was off leash, was dancing around Grace, who was
leashed. Grace got a hold of Anna and slammed her to the ground. I broke
the 2 of them up by jumping in between them and tearing them apart, but
not before Anna had pierced Grace's ear. Lauren took Grace away on her
leash as I had Anna restrained by her collar.
Shortly after, the 2 dogs returned to normal behavior and lived
peacefully like they had for the past couple months. We thought the fight
was a fluke happening because Anna was taunting a restrained Grace.
The following Saturday, Lauren let Anna and Grace outside while she
hopped in the shower. While she was in the shower, Anna and Grace
broke into a full blown dog fight. Hearing the fight from her bathroom,
Lauren ran outside to break the dogs up. She tried pulling Grace off of
Anna, when Grace bit her foot, breaking her first and third metatarsals.
The dogs continued to fight until the neighbors turned a hose on the
two of them. This finally got the 2 dogs apart.
An ambulance took Lauren to the hospital. The neighbors put Anna
inside and left Grace outside. Lauren contacted me from the hospital and
asked me if I could go to her house and check to see if the dogs were
ok.
I arrived at her house and saw Grace first. Her ears were ripped
open and bleeding. She had puncture wounds on her legs and neck.
Although she was bloody, Grace did not seem to be too badly injured. Anna on
the other hand looked like a professional boxer who just lost a 15
round match. I tended to both dogs wounds. None of the cuts or bruises
were significant and both dogs would heal back to normal. Anna was
temporarily moved to Lauren's mother's house, and Grace stayed at her
house. Lauren would also heal, but would have to decide what to with the
dogs, knowing the 2 of them could no longer live in the same house.
Lauren had raised Anna from a pup, and had decided to put Grace up
for adoption.
Lauren's parent's had suggested that we contact their close friends
Frank and Helen. Frank and Helen are animal lovers as well. They own a
6 year old Cane Corso and were looking to get another dog. The Cane
Corso (named Scully) was also possessive of her home territory and
especially her bones. We once again thought we could make it work between
the 2 dogs.
Helen is a nurse who is away from home during work hours, but Frank
was home almost everyday with the 2 dogs. For the next couple weeks,
Frank and Helen worked with the dogs. The progress was rapid and very
positive. The two dogs seemed to have worked things out and were living
happily together.
About two months after initially taking Grace into their home, Frank
and Helen had Frank's parents and Lauren and her mother over to watch
the football game and to visit. The room they were in was quite small
for 6 people and 2 large dogs. Grace had a bone that Scully was
possessive over and was near Frank's dad, who Scully was also possessive of.
Scully continually tried to take the bone from Grace, until the 2 of
them got into a fight. Frank tried to break the 2 of them up and was bit
by Grace. His pinky finger was severed from the fingernail up. They
separated the dogs and went to the hospital.
Scully moved into Frank's parents house and Grace stayed with Helen
and Frank (after he got out of the hospital).
After long thought, Frank and Helen decided that they could not give
up Scully and would have to put Grace up for adoption. This brings us
to where we are today. We have determined that Grace is also dog
aggressive and needs to be the only pet in a home. She also needs a home
with no small children because she plays a little rough. Grace's past is
going to make it hard for us to find a home for her. Although she did
bite 2 people, it was result of them getting in between her and another
dog. She is not people or food aggressive in any way. Grace would make
a great companion. She is a sweetheart and deserves a good home where
she can be herself. Our fear is she would end up in a fighting ring or
ultimately have to be put to sleep if we can not find her a suitable
home. She has had a rough start and I hope you will be able to aide me
or help me get in touch with someone else who would be able to aide me
in finding Grace the home she deserves. I would like to be a part of
the
process in anyway possible. I truly care for her nothing would make
me happier than seeing her finally settled in with a good family.
Please email me back with your opinions and your advice on where to go from
here. I realize that this email is more like a novel than a normal
email, but I feel it is important that you are made aware of Grace's
complete past. Thanks for taking the time to read this and take care,
Jim Vollberg



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OMG poor Gracie, she needs to find a forever ome with no other dogs. I pray for her to find that comfort

honeybear

 

That is just heartwrenching! I am crossposting this. I hope Gracie finds the loving forever home she deserves.

 

Thank you guys... Makes me almost to tears that I can't fit her in here...at least to foster her...ugh... Thanks for the prayers etc... They are very much appreciated.

 

Poor Gracie!! It does sound like it would be possible for Gracie to stay in either of the homes she was in if they wanted to do the "dog-aggressive shuffle" as we discussed on this forum before. I know it's not for everyone, but I wonder if they considered it? I know several people here do it with dogs that can't be together in their homes.

 

I do it myself and when the post first came up on a Yahoo Boerboel forum I mentioned that it can be done and most likely should have been done in the first place with Ann the GSD who was already deemed dog aggressive... There was no response so it seems that the "shuffle" isn't for them...

I do it myself with my dogs, my pits and Boerboels are shufffled... Thank GOD for doors and Babygates is my motto...LOL... It's not difficult at all and all the dogs get their times to be with us etc... Wish more people would consider trying it at least... Grace's live would likely have turned out VERY differently had that been a beleif for the people that took her in in the first place... SAD story hope it works out for the best. If I get any updates I'll be sure to let you know... I don't know that I will though.

 

Yes, I also can't believe that they thought it would work the second time around. It was fairly obvious that it would not. Although I suppose if they thought their dog was the whole problem and not Gracie...

Anyway, I hope they find someone. Are there no rescues in their area?

 

Boerboel's are hard pressed to find rescues for them and with the dog aggression it may be a problem... Perhaps a mastiff rescue will take her in for the time being.

 

That's what I was thinking - mastiff or pit rescue, that is used to dealing with dog-aggressive dogs.

 

OH thats jsut sad. Poor Gracie. Shipped from one place to another. ANd hurt everywhere!!! Oh I wish there was soemthing I could do....

 

Yeah that's the worst part is that she encountered such a crappy hand with all of this... And I don't think she's likley dog aggressive...but encountered dogs who were etc... You know??? Third and fourth hand accounts of things like this are sooo hard to judge for sure ya know??? Hopefully soon I'll have myself enough property, time and funds to take on rescues like her for placement... The Boerboels are gaining more popularity and more bad breeders are out there....it's happening more and more where they need homes... Large breeds always end up having a rough time of it...for some reason people forget they get big etc...and lack the capability or knowledge to keep them responsibly and safely...ugh...

 

:cry: That is so sad and unfair! Poor Gracie, that just breaks my heart! I will pass on to some friends of mine. They may know someone who can help by taking her in. They deal with Working dogs quite a bit and have handled dog aggresive dogs in the past.

 

Thanks soooo much let me know.