After attack after vet pics

March 28th

Yesterday evening my husband and I took Courage and Motard to the neighborhood dog park. We had taken them on Sunday and Courage did great! We kept him on leash at first but after 20 minutes or so we let him off leash and he play wonderfully. Well yesterday when we went we did the same thing. We kept him on leash and walked around meeting the other dogs there. Well there was a HUGE american bulldog there that was off leash that approached us without his owner. He growled at us and tried to attack Courage. We immediately yanked Courage away and retreated to a spot closer to the entrance/exit. After about 2 minutes the bulldog began circling us and before we could do anything he began attacking viciously. I was holding a baby and couldn't do anything. I just kept screaming for somebody to help. For somebody to get him off my dog, off my Courage before he killed him. The owner did nothing but tell/ yell at his dog to stop, he made no attempt to pull him off of Courage. Meanwhile Courage was absolutely screaming. Finally I thrust the baby into somebody else's arm and went to kick the bulldog in his fat head. That is when the owner finally stepped in and pulled him off. My husband half dragged half picked up a scrambling Courage and we took him over to a small fenced off area. We were so busy checking Courage's injuries that we didn't even notice the bulldog and owner fleeing before we could get there info. I am so heart broken that this would happen to Courage, who has already been through so much.

March 3rd 2012

Went for a quick walk with the pups today. This pic is my husband trying to get Courage to run with him and Motard.

February 27th 2012

Sorry I've been really behind on updating this blog. This being sick all the time is really kicking my ass. Courage is doing so awesome. He no longer instantly runs away from people. He still backs away but he isn't sprinting off and hiding. I just got him and Motard matching easy lead collars and took him on his first walk this past weekend. He was surprisingly good on the walk. He never pulled forward but did pull back at times. Oh and he hates stairs which is an issue seeing how I live on the second story. We have discovered that he is really picky about which dogs he likes. Half the time he loves other dogs the other half he has his hackles up and growls at them. It's a process and he is making great progress. In this pic he is looking at Motard thinking "yo bro, pass it this way" lol

February 15th 2012

Courage got neutered today. We're keeping the dogs separate so he doesn't rip a stitch. They are both heart broken that they can't play.

February 12th 2012

He loves having his picture taken and always gets all up my face. Lol.

Feb 11 2012

These cuddly goobers.

February 10th 2012

Demon doggies! Lol

February 6th

He is so random. He got in his crate just to nap.

February 4th

I am so sorry I haven't been posting daily. I've been rather suddenly ill, in and out of the hospital since Wednesday night. I promise I will resume posting daily as of Monday. Thank you for your support.

February 3rd 2012

Courage is on the right, Motard is on the left.

February 2nd

I am amazed at people's generosity. I didn't grow up in the best of neighborhoods. I've never had much faith in mankind as a whole, until now. Complete strangers who have never met me or Courage have donated money towards his care. I was so worried about being able to afford his basic medical procedures, such as neutering and microchipping. But now it is almost covered. I am only a housewife and my husband is a lance corporal in the Marine Corps so we don't have a lot of money. We didn't even think about the cost of our 11th hour rescue of Courage until he was home safe with us. When it finally hit us how much everything cost we were a little stressed, that is until the donations started coming in. I am so inspired by every one that has helped us. People keep calling me an angel for rescuing Courage however the real angels are the unsung ones helping us provide everything he needs. Hats off to you donators and god bless.

January 31st 2012 Evening

Courage now looks up when you say his name! Today he got active and played tug of war with Motard. Unfortunately a small fight between them followed. He is now again terrified of my husband because when he broke up the fight the yelled and walked roughly into them to break them apart. I was able to lure him into his crate tonight by breaking up a turkey dog. Maybe no more rodeo style herding?!

January 31st 2012

So Courage had a rough night last night. He started barking and thrashing around his kennel when we put him to bed. He ended up breaking the kennel and escaping. He ran around the house and got a hold of one of my socks and shredded it to pieces. We put our dog Motard in the broken kennel since we knew he is well behaved enough to not try to escape even though is was broken. It took some rodeo herding skills to get Courage into the not broken kennel and a quicker hand to lock it behind him. This time we moved the kennels closer together and facing each other so Courage could see Motard locked up and clearly okay. That seemed to do the trick because he was quiet for the rest of the night. He follows Motard around the house like a little duckling. Everything Motard sniffs, he sniffs. If Motard lays down, Courage lays down.

January 30th 2012

This morning we have seen the best signs in him. He has been halfheartedly play with my other dog(an 8 month old GSD mix) all morning. He still shys away from any human contact but he is eating and drinking well. :-)

January 29th 2012

Today I rescued a GSD from the Devore shelter. When I woke up this morning all I had planned out for the day was going to friends baby shower and laying around the house with my puppy Motard. I hadn't even thought of getting another  dog until Motard is one. Well I hoped on fb and browsed through the varies nonsense babble as usual. That's when I stumbled upon a shared picture of a 2 year old male GSD that was being transferred to Devore(aka Hell) and being euthanized all in one fell swoop. This poor boy had been wrongfully labeled 'aggressive' and well I'm not usually a gut feeling type of person I just knew from the single picture I had seen of him that this was false. I read on the picture thread that a lot of people were saying that they wanted to help but nobody would or could step up and actually do something for this poor boy. 2 years old and he didn't even have a name! I immediately volunteered  my services to foster him because I wholeheartedly believed that there was nothing wrong with this poor puppy, no reason that he should be put down. Lisa P. stepped and started organizing everything. Without her the poor boy would not have made it. I frantically searched for a ride to take me the 2 hour drive to the shelter to get him. I appealed to a local animal lover group. Begging anyone available for a ride. By the grace of god a woman named Chrissy was able to take me. When we got to Devore(Hell) we meet with Tanya, a puller for 'Gone to the Dogs' rescue. After some small talk we met the animal control officers outside to finally meet the GSD. The moment I saw him I wanted to cry. They had wheeled him out in the metal crate and were acting like he was going to maul their faces off. However the the dog was curled up in the corner of the crate terrified. The animal control workers were talking of muzzling him and tried to insist that we go get a crate to put him in for the ride home. I asked one of them if he had bitten anyone and if that is why they were treating him like this. The officer snobbishness replied "He could." Are you serious? I COULD bite you but I didn't, that really wasn't the answer I was looking for. Tanya pet him gently and was shaking like a leaf in the wind. He didn't growl, bark or snap when we touched him. He was to scared to move. It was that moment that I decided to name him Courage, after a cartoon "Courage the cowardly dog." When we finally half coaxed half forced him into the car he immediately hide as far under the seat as he physically could. There he stayed for the next hour and a half of car ride, eventually crawling out to climb into the back window. When we got home to my house he once again was  too terrified to move and my husband had to carry him up the stairs to our second story condo. He then slinked to the end of our hall and there he stayed until we decided to go to bed and put him in his kennel. And this is the dog they labeled "Aggressive"