Friday, July 17, 2009

Oh hell, Let me Introduce Riggo

Riggo is a 90lb American Bulldog. He lived with his Mom and Dad, a married couple in their mid-twenties, and his 2 Boston Terriers until the last week. You see his family got foreclosed on but he wasn't too worried. He missed the big fenced in acre but went with his family to a small house. The landlord found out about Riggo so he couldn't stay there...Not sure how you hide a 90lb dog the size of a small horse, but they weren't either...They boarded him at the vet while trying to get a rescue to take him but of course without more fosters they are all full. The man took him back to the shelter he adopted him from with his bowls, leashes, and tearfully left him behind with instructions to call before doing anything like putting Riggo down. Because Riggo has never been boarded or crate trained he did freak out going into that situation. They moved him to the closed side and he was getting daily walks but developing cage agression. He nipped a "nervous" volunteer and the decision was made that he would be put to sleep tomorrow.

Apparently the whole family has been working this and his aunt came to me yesterday through the Boston Terrier Rescue group. Someone there knows I love all the bullys. I reached out and tried to get more info and loop in an AB rescue. The man took the day off work planning to drive him 2 hours to meet me in the hopes that I would take him in - that's right. No promises involved. Well, I cut out after my mtgs, loaded up Sprout and we called him on the way to say we'd be at the shelter at noon. We met the AC Officer, the trainer there, several volunteers and the owner who had come up and gotten him back. All went well and I brought him home this afternoon. It took a couple hours but I am pleased to report he is going in his crate already. :)

He's UTD on shots, HW negative, housetrained and shows no signs of aggression. He does need some basic training like the crate, heel and stay but he's a good boy so far. Seems very smart and responsive.

So much for being down to only my 2 pups for a week. lol I'll be cross-posting him to get him into a new family as soon as possible...Anyone looking for a little 90lb dog? LOL

9 comments:

  1. you are so sweet to take in all of these doggies .....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't take on Fostering because I live in a small space, but girl, you ever need help, call me first. I'll figure sumpin out, even if it's just throwing $$ your way to keep a pup from going down!
    People like you and Rocket have a very special place in my heart and in Heaven.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just want to say thank you for having the big beautiful heart you do. I recently lost my best friend of over 12 years, Sweet Pea, to cancer. To say I was broken hearted is a very small understatement.

    Almost 2 weeks ago, I adopted my new baby, Savannah. Someone had dropped a pregnant American Eskimo off at a shelter. Savannah was one of her 7 puppies born at the shelter and later taken in by a rescue group.

    Without people like you, I wouldn't have Savannah. All my friends tell me how good it is to hear me laugh and see me smile again. I owe that to Savannah. She is helping heal my heart, which I thought would never heal again.

    Thank you again for making this world a better place.

    xoxo
    ~vk~

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for the incredible work you do!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you all, ladies. We walked today with the gentle leader and he's getting a bit better about the crate. It will take a little work to get him settled into our household but he should be good to go with that within the week. The crate is my main focus right no as Monday always comes too fast and I won't have all the time to convince him to go in on a Monday morning...And while he's housetrained totally he's a kitty chaser. lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. He's huge! Hope he settles in quickly!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I came by to see your bully guy--he looks like a big lovey-lug! I'm not surprised about his kitty interests. Its an AB thing. ;)

    Hope he crates for you--that's always the wrench in the process with big dogs. They are so strong they can wrangle out of a crate.

    It's so sad to hear about the foreclosure pets. We're starting to get those here in Houston too. Lots of big ol' labs.

    I'll keep a lookout for a family for Riggio, but my distance from you and our own surplus of ABs (I've got Riggio's cousin, Domino, on my project list right now) makes it tough.

    Thanks for checking in with my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous7/20/2009

    YAY!! Glad to hear the dog was saved. That's awesome!

    ReplyDelete