Dustin and I have two dogs, Sadie and Ponder. although there are some times (ok, pretty much everyday at some point) that i get exasperated with their crazy antics (i mean, it gets CRAZY here. two dogs and two babies ALL under the age of 2 1/2… it’s a wild circus), i wouldn’t trade them in for anything (dogs or children). Sadie was abused as a puppy, and her jaw was broken. see that snaggle tooth? direct result. we tease her about it, but i must say, it is quite possibly the cutest snaggle tooth i’ve ever seen. 
A year later we adopted Ponder, our Vizsla, who had been neglected. Chained up all day in the florida heat and elements, his neck raw, injuries to his legs that left him unable to even walk. He and his brother were both sent to a shelter, but unfortunately it was a shelter with a high euthanasia rate, and his brother didn’t make it in enough time to be rescued by the tampa bay vizsla club rescue. We took Ponder home last fourth of july, and he’s more a part of our family than i ever could have imagined.
So, if you have recently adopted an animal from a shelter or rescue organization, we want to hear your story. We will provide a complimentary photography session of three different rescue stories throughout 2011. In addition, we will also donate 10% of any regular pet session booked in 2011 to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. deadline is December 31st of this year, so get on it! how have you changed the life of the animal(s) you have rescued?
OH! I love Sadie’s snaggletooth…. Totally gives her personality… I’m so sorry she had to go through that. As well as Ponder. I still do not understand how anyone could hurt an animal.
My husband and I also have a soft spot for rescues. We rescued Quincy back in 2005 from the Golden Retriever Rescue of Mid-Florida, he was abused as well and was missing teeth because of a blunt force trauma to his beautiful red square head. We sadly lost him to sinus cancer in May ’10. A loss which I’m not sure I will ever be over. :’( It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about him not being with us.
We rescued Sophie, our Catahoula in ’07 as a puppy… Her mom was found wondering around I-4 on a broken hip on Christmas Eve ’06; very pregnant with puppies. They weren’t sure any of the pups would be alive when she had them but on New Years Eve ’06 she had 10 little pups and all survived. She is scared of everything, something that comes with being a Catahoula so we hear… LOL SHe misses her big brother though.
We are in the process of rescuing another Golden from GRRMF, but a lot of their pups are currently unadoptable due to medical issues so we must wait for our next baby.
Rescuing our ‘children’ seems to be a theme in our life, we rescue our animals and now we are waiting for an adoption to come our way for a baby. I guess it’s just what we’re meant to do.
I just wanted to leave this as a small thanks for also rescuing your babies and posting about this. I really do think they provide such a different love. I’ll always need my pups.
Sadie is such a cutie, not to mention a little fashionista posing in front of that fab shoe.
It breaks my heart to hear the stories of such abuse and makes me physically sick. Why someone would hurt an innocent animal is beyond me.
Like you, I have 3 dogs at home, two of which were rescues. Zeus, the oldest at 7, is a lab/mastiff mix who we adopted at a meer 8 weeks old. He was brought in with his brothers and sisters after being dumped into a garbage can. A passerby heard the puppies crying from the bin and immediately brought them over to the Pasco Animal Shelter.
My Dad (who I also lost almost a year ago to cancer) and me went up to the shelter one day and fortunately found Zeus, a tiny, no more than 10 pound puppy. He was the runt and compared to his brothers, he looked like so small. And not only that, after his brothers were adopted, he sat alone in a huge cage that could hold 3 large adult dogs. This and the story truly broke my father’s heart and he immediately decided we couldn’t leave the puppy. So we took him home and seven years later he’s such a wonderful dog. He’s rather timid and shy but once he gets used to an environment, he really can act like a puppy!
Me and my boyfriend (Jim) also have Cody, a 3-year-old Cocker Spaniel. He loves to love and be loved and the perfect furry friend to have when you’re having a bad day. One look from his big brown eyes will just make you smile and make your day all the better!
Our newest addition, Maya who is an 18-week-old red-nosed pitbull, came into our lives just 3 weeks ago. A friend of mine who lives in the USF area saw an abandoned and relatively skinny puppy on the side of the road. After she picked up the puppy up and cleaned her, my friend sent out a message about Maya’s story and asked anyone if they wanted her. I couldn’t resist. I told Jim about the puppy and what had happened to her and he was completely on board with rescuing her. I fell in love with her the minute I saw her. I’ve always been weary about pitbulls in the past but Maya has completely changed my mind. She’s so sweet and lovable!
Zeus, Cody and Maya get along with each other so well and are always so excited to see me and Jim when we get home. Like Kerri said, I really think there’s a different kind of love with an adopted or rescued pet. It might sound silly but it’s like they are always so appreciative of you and you feel like you’ve made a difference. It’s an amazing feeling!