An English Bull Terrier

liz wrote:What about this one then?

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Thanks Liz, great pic...

It reminds me of an English Bull Terrier I tried to save once called Gunner, he was 9 months old and his drug dealer owner had made him so aggressive (based on fear I expect) that he turned on him and he dropped him off at a 'NO KILL' policy rescue centre, a trustee at the centre ( who I had helped him with his satffie) asked me to come and have a look as it was the worst case they had seen in their 50 year history and no local professional behaviourist could help.

The vets and behaviourists all agreed this dog was beyond help and should be destroyed.

When I got there I was met with hostility from the staff and vice chairwoman, what the trustee hadnt told me was that it was only his idea to invite me and everyone else was against the idea, they asked me for my qualifications which I had none, they treated me as their worst enemy even though I offered anything I had free of charge and as nothing else had worked I didnt see what harm I could do.

I requested that the only way I could possibly help is if they emptied all the other dog cages and secured the area that no staff could enter and not intervene no matter what happened, ie so it was just me and the dog, they declined this even though I signed a disclaimer that what I was doing was at my own risk.

They did say I could have a look at him which I did (had to try anything), he had been kept in a 4 foot square cage with a blanket over it in complete darkness for 2 weeks so he would not upset the other dogs....nobody could get in the cage and he was left in his own pee and poop.

I did what I could with the massive restrictions and got him calm a few times, but every time I opened the cage another dog would bark and off he went, he is to this day the most aggressive dog I have ever seen and I have to be honest he frightened me, I had seen plenty of so called aggression in the past but it never bothered me that much.

After 1 hour I was told to leave as I was upsetting the other dogs, I said look how about I sleep next to his cage all night when the rescue centre is closed, I have an idea that might work......my offer was declined..... and I had no choice but to leave.

I mentioned to the vice chairwoman that I think I can help this dog and would commit to however long it took free of charge, she said he was due to be destroyed the next morning and I was his last chance, I got her to agree to put off his destruction and that we could talk again....the trustee that asked me to have a look at him rang me in the morning to say that Gunner had been put to sleep.......

It may have been the right decision, perhaps the abuse had damaged the frontal lobes in the brain to such an extent that there was no hope of recovery, to me though not anywhere near enough effort had been put in, they went against their no kill policy, even though I saw a few long term residents of theirs (3 years plus in a cage) that looked so wide eyed and mad it would be kinder to put them to sleep in my view.

Perhaps this dog was seen as a bad lot by association being owned by a drug dealer, re-homing would have been difficult I accept due to the history of the dog, but others remained long term 'in mates'.....none of it made sense to me........

When I learnt of his demise I was so upset and angry and felt I had failed him, I wanted to give up helping dogs as I could not see anyway past the the human wall and felt I could never go through this again, it sickened me to my stomach of all the double standards and garbage that I had to listen to from the vice chairwoman, she even showed me pictures of her dogs......all fluffy soft collies breeds.....

I never again wanted to help a dog to end up feeling the massive sense of failure as I did, I thought I was better off burying my head in the sand instead.

For some reason and I don't know why I wrote to forum member wolfdog, I didn't know him that well at the time and I thought he would just think I was some sort of mental case....

He managed to put things into perspective for me and later I realised he was right, I also learnt later on what a balanced point of view he has, he helped me to continue to try and help dogs no matter what......

I thank him for that from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for the story about the Bull terrier, my heart goes out to you.
You done what you could, please don't beat yourself up for it.

Thanks Liz,

I try and use it as a valuable lesson, so Gunner would not die in vain and what I learnt hopefully will save a few dogs in his honour....

A few months later my other half wanted to rescue a dog from the same rescue centre......all was going well until they found out I was her other half and they gave the dog who had some 'issues' to an inexperienced woman instead.......

So not only did I have all that heartache for something I did on a voluntary basis, it also cost me the chance the help another dog.

I went up there so my dog could meet the rescue one, all the women at the centre went silent when they saw me, the rescue dog was playing up as they were treating it like a child and talking baby speak to it and used high levels of excitement around the poor thing, no wonder it was in a bad way!....They allowed me (after some persuasion) to take it for a walk.........as soon as we got out of the rescue centre.....the dog was fine....!!!!.......when we got back the women all rushed over with excitement to see him and he then bit my dog.......when I told them they had caused it they all went off with the hump!

The reason I HATE all charity organisations is that they are a law unto themselves and are not accountable for their actions.....this rescue centre is another good example of that......