 Noelle's Story
10 years ago when I adopted my first wheaten from a reputable
breeder, I waited 10 months on list for her. I would never have
believed there would be Wheatens that ended up in shelters. After
all, these are "valuable" dogs and you'd think that someone that
invested that much money in their dog would take good care of them.
Unfortunately, ours has become an instant gratification, throw away
society. And yes, many wonderful Wheatens do end up in shelters!
National statistics indicate that up to 25% of the dogs entering
shelters are purebred. The shelter was more than happy for me to
adopt Noelle and free up a cage. Depending on the shelter, the pets
only have a limited amount of cage time and either or adopted out or
euthanized.
In
December, 2005, I spotted Noelle on Petfinder and drove to the city
kill shelter she was in to identify her. Wheatens in shelters can be
hard to identify. Many do not have docked tails (Noelle's is long),
many have never been combed, bathed, brushed or nails trimmed in
their lives. Often, only feeling the ear can you tell if they have
cocker spaniel length ears or the smaller, higher, triangle shape
ears of a wheaten because of all of the heavy, long fur.
 To my best guess, Noelle (originally listed as Smokey, a 6 month
old Akita mix), was a young wheaten, unspayed female. I pulled her
for WIN, and fostered her. She had horrible worms and the spay
incision was badly infected. She was listless, not wheaten puppy
like. According to the paperwork at the shelter, she'd been adopted
by a family who gave her to another family when they no longer
wanted her. They told this family she was an Akita mix. In this area
of the city, the bigger, more protective type dogs are the ones in
demand. Noelle is a submissive dog, the opposite of a guard dog. The
shelter manager said she felt Noelle had been abused just by the way
the man dragged her in and never looked back when he surrendered
her. I've seen some signs of it, but she now knows that hands coming
towards her face mean hugs, kisses and petting instead of hitting.
And, that huge tail wagging brings a smile to our faces!
 I had her placed, twice, and she came back through no fault of
her own. One family
decided they only wanted one dog as their dog was no longer paying
enough attention to them, but playing with Noelle. This was after 2
days. About this time, I found out my oldest wheaten, Bailey, was
sick. We decided there was a reason we still had our sweet little
foster girl, and adopted her. Everything was new to her, she'd only
been in a fenced in yard, no walks, no meeting other dogs or People,
etc. It is fun to see her experience so many things and how she is
blossoming. She didn't bark for 7 weeks, not a sound out of her. The
vet said she would bark when she felt confident enough. Now, she
will bark if the doorbell rings, but still doesn't bark much.
She is wonderful with other dogs, knows exactly what the other
dog needs, either lays down and is gentle or can body slam and rough
house with the biggest of dogs. She is gentle and sweet, not a mean
bone in her body. We adore her.
The
best guess of our vets is that she was 9 - 10 months old in
December, so is about one now. She had all of her teeth and a bit of
tarter when I adopted her, so she was older than 6 months. Shelters
often underestimate the dogs ages as they adopt easier the younger
they are.
 Noelle has a wheaten sister, Bailey, age 10, a wheaten brother,
Rowdy, 9 in a month, and two Maine coon kitties, ages 2 and 3 that
she is great with, plus a human mommy and daddy who love her very
much, grandparents, aunts and uncles and human nieces and nephews,
etc. So many human and doggie friends as she is a really special
girl.
Please help WIN to continue helping these "Wheatens in need".
And, please have your pets microchipped and wearing a collar with
an I.D. tag!
Cathy
|
