 West Virginia Dogs In September 2007, ten dogs were seized by authorities from a backyard breeder in West Virginia for neglect and cruelty. The wife, having grown tired of all the dogs moved into an apartment; the husband, divided his time between the two homes. This left the dogs alone and unattended for long periods of time. The conditions for the dogs were harsh. Some were crated, some were chained and others roamed free in the backyard. The dogs lived outdoors in feces and filth without adequate food and water. None of them had ever been socialized. After the neighbor's continuous complaints about the dogs fighting and several dogs being picked up more than once for having escaped the yard, authorities finally removed them. The dogs were so fearful of people, they had to be captured. None of them had any training, not even to be walked on a leash. Most of the dogs had skin issues of some kind and some were very thin with rib and hip bones protruding. Based upon their condition and circumstances, the authorities would only release the dogs to a rescue group for rehabilitation. One of the dogs was a pregnant female which was conditionally released to another rescue for immediate care. The others spent almost six months in a shelter while the case made its way through the court system. Several of DAR&E's volunteers made routine trips to the shelter over that time to get the dogs out of their kennels to evaluate them, give them a bit of exercise, toys and treats along with some much needed human contact. Upon the courts terminating ownership, DAR&E was there on the day of the verdict, ready with vans and crates to bring the nine remaining dogs to DAR&E in February 2008. All of the dogs needed rehabilitation to be eligible for adoption.
Most of the Dobes, after spending some time in foster care, were friendly and outgoing, in spite of the life they had lived up to that time. Even though they were kept outside, surprisingly they quickly became house trained and learned what it was like to live in a home with a warm bed, regular meals and lots of love and TLC. Over the next year or two, they were all able to find their respective furever homes but two. For some reason, two of the younger Dobes were much shyer and are taking much longer to come around. Shane was eventually adopted by his foster mom in Oct 2010, leaving Tally. Visit our Dogs in Need page and read about Tally. |
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