I, too, know the siren call of the sad puppy eyes. Both of my younger dogs are Pity Puppies. (Polaris and Sirius.) Both of them are “problem dogs”. Polaris was taken from her mother right after birth and missed out on all of that crucial puppy socialization and Sirius was abused by the first family which had him. I knew when I adopted them that they would both have life-long “issues” but I wanted them both to have the best possible lives. They needed love and I just couldn’t say no.
You did a Good Thing by giving that dog a loving home, even though her start in life was terrible.
I saw a picture of a dog that was the result of a Golden Retriever/Dachshund cross. Shape (mostly) of a dachshund, with the head and coat of a retriever. Now that was weird.
We have a dog who’s damaged goods, too – a golden retriever with massive anxiety, particularly storm anxiety. We adopted him from a rescue when he was a little over a year old, and have been through several years of struggling to find what works. Ultimately, moving away from Louisiana was the best thing ever – not that we moved for the dog, but we’ve agreed we can’t move back as long as we have him with us now. He’s finally blossomed and turned into a really happy dog. He’s still got anxiety and will be on lifelong medication, but today he just enjoys every day.
There’s just nothing better than knowing you’ve helped an animal enjoy what by all accounts looked to be an unhappy life, is there?
Actually (pedantic hijack by someone who has had her name mispronounced and mangled in countless ways all her life) it’s a short “a” & the split is before the “t”. Breath out on the “Ca” and pull back on the “trin”. THank you for listening.
