Images that make me proud...

[rpcrowe]

Charlie Hebdo (our name) is a young Maltese-Poodle who was confiscated by the San Bernardino Animal control. He was one of 120 dogs of various breeds who were housed in atrocious conditions in a garage. Charlie was at the Devore, California Shelter and was adopted by a private party. He was returned to the shelter because he was totally panic strickened at being adopted. He had never interacted with people before.

One of our volunteers learned about Charlie, rescuied him from the shelter and brought him to us.

When I pulled (literally pulled) Charlie from the carrier he went ballistic with panic fear. In his struggle to get away from me, he ripped up the back of my hand with his sharp nails. My wife brought me a paper towel which stopped the blood and I held Charlie for several hours while he just shook with fear. I then put a short, lightweight lead on him and basically had him attached to me for several days. He went everywhere in the house that I went. I didn't force him to come near me but, I wouldn't allow him to get any further away than the length of the lead. He slept in bed with me, watched T,V. with me, stayed by the computer when I was working on it and went out into the yard with me. I took him to the pet supply store to buy treats and to Home Depot so he could ride around in the shopping basket and meet people.

After several days of "being joined at the hip with me" he realized that the world wasn't such a scary place.

Anyway, Charlie has turned into a wonderfully loving and friendly boy and has been adopted by one of our volunteers and her daughter. I am really proud of these cell phone pictures shot by another volunteer at the rescue event. This is the dog who was absolutely frightened by people, only three weeks previously...



This is what Charlie looked like when he arrived from the shelter scared and nervous...



and this is what he looked like when he began to have self confidence...



He has now embarked on a wonderful portion of his life, a life in which he will know nothing but attention and love from his new family...

[selig1656]

Out standing and I love his portrait .

[just me]

Richard.....A wonderful story, and I am so glad it has a happy ending........

As my Daughter works voluntary at a animal shelter ( she herself has 3 poodles ) I will show her your story about Charlie........

You are very kind person, and have a great understanding ........

Griddi......

[D L]

Richard, it's inspiring to see you combine your passions of animal welfare and photography. A picture tells 1000 words, but a bit of back story doesn't hurt with added meaning. Thank you for sharing, this story and the others you've shared previously.

[Shadowman]

Nice presentation.

[IzzieK]

Nice story and outcome, Richard -- all for the best...

[John 2]

Photography apart Richard, thank goodness for people like you. I can't imagine what had happened to that dog to put it into the state you found it in. The end result is obvious from the bright eyed look in your final image.

[marlunn]

Well done sir, a great story, I am pleased to say I cannot comprehend what people who do that to animals think or feel like. I can however say I am very glad that I do have some understanding of what people like you think and feel like, to an extent from your posts here. Very fine work and a fab result. And a really lovely Portrait it is of a happy dog.

[rpcrowe]

Virtually all of our efforts have a happy ending (there have been a few dogs who were too sick to survive) however, there are some endings which make me even happier than others. Charlie is one of those stories.

Abbie, shown here...



is a partial success story. Abbie arrived from the shelter with one puppy. She was extremely defensive over that pup, almost vicious in her protection. She would seriously bite anyone getting near her or the puppy. I use a pair of heavy leather welding gloves in cases like that. It took Abbie about three days to begin to trust us. She now thinks that the sun rises and sets in my wife and I. Her puppy has been adopted into a furever home but, Abbie is still distrustful of other people. We have an appointment with a professional trainer who says that since we were able to get Abbie to trust us, we will be able to extend that trust to other people. Our first session will be Saturday morning, March 28th. Here's hoping...

[Barbara Ponder]

Richard, you do amazing work both in front of the camera and behind! Those pups are truly lucky to have you in their corner! Thank you for making a difference.

[IzzieK]

Richard, Abbie is a beautiful little girl despite her distrustful nature...When I got Roxie (she was to be dumped at a shelter...) She flips when she was touched. I learned that when Roxie comes to me, she just comes to me for treats, not because she wanted to be touched, but when she does, I touched her head first...slowly throughout the weeks, she allows me to touch her back...then I was taught by the trainer to continue touching her further down her tail and rubbing her back downwards. I accompanied those touches at home with enticing her with treats but I put it further her nose to the other side of my chair beside the table instead so she was forced to come to my lap. I continued that for weeks until she learned to trust me. I adopted her and worked on her even after training was done. She is very smart but I think she was abused by her ex-owner obviously the way she was acting...

Like you did with Charlie, I connected her to my hips during the day but she is crated during the night and when she misbehaves and being given a time-out. Nowadays if Bill want to take her for his beer run or go anywhere, she will look at me as if to ask permission. But now we have dominance issue and very protective of what she think is "hers." Sunday, Bill turned his back (while she was on a leash) so he can walk her up the hill and back. There were two kids and a mother passing by. She was able to disengage from Bill's hold and picked a fight with the mother of the kids (who run away for their lives) and bite the woman on her heels. Bill apologized profusely and the woman said she wasn't hurt, it is OK...despite that I stayed home and waited for the police. Hopefully she did not inform them...

Thing is, when she is at "school" she does everything right from A-Z. We are still finding it hard for her to trust other people and treat them like "people". We watched a Cesar Millan DVD about controlling vicious dogs. He has a client who is the same as Roxie but Cesar has people to help him. We don't and can't just borrow the neighbour and the neighbour's dog to cooperate with us and help us train Roxie the way Cesar does. As I said before this neighbourhood is a snooty as anything so I can't just borrow someone else's dog around here. So tomorrow when we go for my eye appointment, I said we will pass by Petsmart and buy her a little muzzle. Bill said that will confirm to people that we have a vicious dog. I put my foot down and told him I do not care what other people think. I am trying to protect us from being sued in court and/or her hurting someone outside the house or for the authorities to spare her life if she ever draws blood. She doesn't bite hard to draw blood, but I sort of do not trust some people who embellish their stories to get back at you despite saying "It is OK.."

Sorry for the long post.

[just me]

Richard, Abbie is a beautiful little girl despite her distrustful nature...When I got Roxie (she was to be dumped at a shelter...) She flips when she was touched. I learned that when Roxie comes to me, she just comes to me for treats, not because she wanted to be touched, but when she does, I touched her head first...slowly throughout the weeks, she allows me to touch her back...then I was taught by the trainer to continue touching her further down her tail and rubbing her back downwards. I accompanied those touches at home with enticing her with treats but I put it further her nose to the other side of my chair beside the table instead so she was forced to come to my lap. I continued that for weeks until she learned to trust me. I adopted her and worked on her even after training was done. She is very smart but I think she was abused by her ex-owner obviously the way she was acting...

Like you did with Charlie, I connected her to my hips during the day but she is crated during the night and when she misbehaves and being given a time-out. Nowadays if Bill want to take her for his beer run or go anywhere, she will look at me as if to ask permission. But now we have dominance issue and very protective of what she think is "hers." Sunday, Bill turned his back (while she was on a leash) so he can walk her up the hill and back. There were two kids and a mother passing by. She was able to disengage from Bill's hold and picked a fight with the mother of the kids (who run away for their lives) and bite the woman on her heels. Bill apologized profusely and the woman said she wasn't hurt, it is OK...despite that I stayed home and waited for the police. Hopefully she did not inform them...

Thing is, when she is at "school" she does everything right from A-Z. We are still finding it hard for her to trust other people and treat them like "people". We watched a Cesar Millan DVD about controlling vicious dogs. He has a client who is the same as Roxie but Cesar has people to help him. We don't and can't just borrow the neighbour and the neighbour's dog to cooperate with us and help us train Roxie the way Cesar does. As I said before this neighbourhood is a snooty as anything so I can't just borrow someone else's dog around here. So tomorrow when we go for my eye appointment, I said we will pass by Petsmart and buy her a little muzzle. Bill said that will confirm to people that we have a vicious dog. I put my foot down and told him I do not care what other people think. I am trying to protect us from being sued in court and/or her hurting someone outside the house or for the authorities to spare her life if she ever draws blood. She doesn't bite hard to draw blood, but I sort of do not trust some people who embellish their stories to get back at you despite saying "It is OK.."

Sorry for the long post.

Hi Izzie........regarding * I am trying to protect us * I completely agree with you..........

Best to you,
Griddi........

[rpcrowe]

A fearful dog is a problem, especially like Abbie and other dogs whose fear is shown through aggression. The really great thing about being an independent rescue is that nobody can put a time line on a dog we have. Some shelters give a dog a certain amount of time (in some shelters, that time frame is terribly short) tp be adopted before they put down the dog.

Abbie will be with us for as long as she needs to get totally socialized.