It was only two weeks ago that I picked up Ashley from Animal Care and Control Manhattan. She was there five days, a scared grayish pit bull, only 30 lbs.
On the day I picked her up, they had found her owner. When they called them, they said they didn’t even know she was missing! And no, they did not want her back.
It was apparent they did not take good care of Ashley when they did have her. Her fur was sparse in many places, she had many cuts and scrapes, her nails were overgrown and she was underweight. But was most disturbing about Ashley was her mental condition. She was terrified. She wouldn’t even leave the cage at Animal Control because she was so scared. Her tail was tucked all the way under her body and she was shaking like a leaf. After trying to coax her out for fifteen minutes, I had to pick her up and carry her out to the car. She sat curled up in the seat, tense, on and off shaking. It was only after sitting in over an hour of traffic did she relax a little. But she still didn’t dare move. When we got to the Bobbi and the Strays shelter, I again had to pick her up and carry her inside.
It took us two days to get Ashley to walk with us at the shelter. Like at Animal Control she would not come out of her cage. I had to pull her out gently and carry her oustide to the outside runs. It was very heartbreaking. When we were finally able to walk Ashley at our shelter, it was a strange sight. She had certainly never been on a leash before and it was like she had never seen grass before either! She walked funny… lifting her legs up really high and plopping them down… as if she had just discovered she had legs. Then she would begin to get playful and run and hop for a second and then she would almost scare herself and stop suddenly and cower for no reason. One can only imagine what her former life was like.
Getting Ashley into a foster was a priority. There is only so much socialization you can do in a shelter no matter how hard you try. Ashley needed a loving home. Finding fosters is always a challenge. Sometimes we post for months before we find a foster. However a miracle seemed to happen for Ashley. One of our great former foster parents stepped up and took Ashely home!
After seeing a dog so afraid like that, it was the greatest pleasure getting updated photos of Ashely in an email yesterday. Her foster mom reports that Ashely is slowly coming out of her shell and has been playing with the other dogs! She is still working on her skills with humans but Ashley is taking some small steps. She is never aggressive, just very timid. Her foster mom is optimistic that Ashley will continue to do well and learn to enjoy life the way it was meant to be!
Here is a photo of Ashley in the car on the way to the Bobbi and the Strays shelter
And here is Ashely happily playing in the yard of her foster home!
She hardly looks like the same dog! I am eternally grateful to Ashley’s foster mom for taking Ashley in and working with her, for giving Ashley the well deserved second chance she needed! If you would like to become a foster parent for one of our dogs please visit the foster page of our website HERE.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Tags: animal control, bobbi and the strays, foster, Pit bull, rescue
Excellent points! I aplaud you for taking the time to create this post. I’m looking forward to reading more…. Especially about the important work that you do. Good Luck dog!
Great little story. I hope that it leads to adoption for this dog. I would foster or adopt but travel waaaaaay too much right now. Godd Luck!
This is such a wonderful post. Thank you, Laura. I hope that Ashley gets her forever home soon. Thank YOU – to those wonderful foster parents too! At least for now she is happy, loved, and surrounded by friends. Those are the best parts of life, after all. ; -) Good Luck Ashley!
Wow, look at Ashley go. Love her. Veronica and I took her to vet’s office for checkup and she was the most terrified pup, but really liked the other pup we had with us. On the way back to Bobbie’s in my car she was wrapped up in a blanket with the other pup on Veronica’s lap and she started to learn that humans can be ok. Now to see her at her foster home, I am overjoyed.
This is a great post! Thanks Laura!!! Ashley seems like an absolute darling. What a perfect name for her, too, with her silvery ash-colored coat. I don’t want to think about what might have caused her to be such a timid dog. The pictures of Ashley playing with those two other dogs really warms my heart. I hope she can stay in her foster home permanently. That would be ideal. With how timid she is with people, I would almost consider her a special-needs dog.
Thanks, again, for a wonderful post.
YAY!!!!!!!!!!
Will Ashley most likely stay at that home?