Daisy Needs Help
Longtime readers may remember Daisy. In late 2002 and early 2003, Daisy was a temporary (unless you ask Mrs. X, in which case the answer is “permanent”) resident of Casa Xrlq in Rancho Santa Margarita. A friend of ours had found her in a park and bought her from a homeless man who had apparently been feeding her trash, resulting in a nasty stomach infection that nearly killed her. We nursed her back to health, and for a while (to me, as I didn’t want a third dog - to Mrs. X it was going to be permanent) she was our third dog:
Unfortunately, Daisy, who is the white lab/whippet mix on the right, didn’t get along too well with Molly the fawn pit bull on the left. She also didn’t play so well with our cats, but was extremely friendly toward people. At heart, she’s more of a loner. Not when it comes to people - she absolutely loves people - just other pets. She’s the perfect single pet.
We put her up for adoption in January, 2003, and placed her with a local (RSM) couple about a month later. The couple liked her so much they even sent us a pic of their own:
Three months later, the couple later learned the hard way what they should have learned the easy way before: dogs aren’t allowed in their complex. So they returned her, and we put her up for adoption again, and placed her again. All’s well that ends well. Right?
Wrong. Last week I got a call from a lady at the Orange County, CA animal shelter, informing that Daisy’s microchip was still in our name, and that Daisy had been surrendered by her owners for euthanasia because she had become unstable and bitten someone without provocation. That didn’t sound at all like the Daisy we knew, so I prodded her for details of the incident, only to learn that by “surrender” they meant “abandoned,” by “owners” she meant “some idiot vet tech who didn’t own or want her after the original owners had abandoned her at the vet’s office,” by “unstable” she had meant “scared shitless” and/or “didn’t immediately acclimate to a strange house,” by “someone” she had meant “that idiot vet tech’s dog,” and by “without provocation” she had meant “without the idiot vet tech even trying to introduce the dogs properly.” By all accounts she has been very friendly at the pound ever since, as she always was. But until and unless we can find some place to house her, she’s on death row and time is running out.
In an abundance of caution, I do not recommend Daisy for families that have cats and dogs already. I absolutely recommend her for families who are ready for one dog who has been through a lot of crap, will know immediately that her life got better, and will reward you in spades. If you are that person, know that person, or if you think you might be interested in meeting Daisy and possibly fostering her for a while, please let me know ASAP. If you can’t take her but are willing to help with the costs of boarding her until we find someone who can, please consider donating, either by PayPal (email xrlq at xrlq dot com) or, if you prefer, by contacting the boarding facility directly once we’ve determined who that will be.
January 18th, 2007 at 1:01 am
My God, that poor sweet dog.
If we didn’t have our princess, I’d go get her tomorrow. But as you know, two dogs that despise other animals are even worse than one…
I’ll ask around in the next couple of days and see if anyone I know is interested.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
[...] California Dog Needs Home Spewed by Anwyn in Blog Bites Xrlq tells the story of Daisy, a dog he and his family rescued and put up for adoption. Daisy is again in need of rescue: Last week I got a call from a lady at the Orange County, CA animal shelter, informing that Daisy’s microchip was still in our name, and that Daisy had been surrendered by her owners for euthanasia because she had become unstable and bitten someone without provocation. That didn’t sound at all like the Daisy we knew, so I prodded her for details of the incident, only to learn that by “surrender” they meant “abandoned,” by “owners” she meant “some idiot vet tech who didn’t own or want her after the original owners had abandoned her at the vet’s office,” by “unstable” she had meant “scared shitless” and/or “didn’t immediately acclimate to a strange house,” by “someone” she had meant “that idiot vet tech’s dog,” and by “without provocation” she had meant “without the idiot vet tech even trying to introduce the dogs properly.” By all accounts she has been very friendly at the pound ever since, as she always was. But until and unless we can find some place to house her, she’s on death row and time is running out. [...]
January 20th, 2007 at 5:49 am
Dogs are dogs. They would have worked it out, though there may have been some bloodshed along the way. That’s the way dogs are.
You shouldn’t have given her up in the first place.
January 24th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
A shame to read about this, and I wish I could take Daisy, who looks like a sweet and lovely animal. (My dog Coco would never allow it, nor would Daisy.) I thought I should pass along some intel I learned from my dealings with a friend who is heavily into animal rescue about the “about to be euthanized” scam.
Some of the professionals who deal with animal adoptions are callused and have rationalized thinking it’s OK to lie and exaggerate in order to “motivate” people to save animals. My animal rescue friend has been conned into taking more animals than she can handle, and one common ruse used by “no-kill” shelters is to say that the animal bit someone and will have to be euthanized if it is not taken — RIGHT AWAY! (This is a good line with someone who knows the animal, because it gets their attention motivates them into action.) Everyone knows they can’t just threaten to kill an animal without reason, so this makes the threat credible. And of course there’s no way to verify it. It works. And who will dare call their bluff?
September 18th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
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