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Betwixt Heaven and Hell; the rescue of an Angel

For me the world is just the other side of my computer screen and keyboard. Today having fixed my boiler, heaven was a long hot bath, some mince pies, a glass of sherry and a cup of tea in a warm bathroom listening to the music of Café de Mar whilst Winston was outside burying his bone. For half and hour I stepped out of this world into some simple luxury and not only be able to do that but also to appreciate it.

A few days previously, I was receiving emails from Yolande Rondeau who lives in Canada. Her local SPCA had recently released 100 dogs from a breeder and she adopted one called Angel who had spent ten years of her life as a breed bitch locked in a cage. This is Puppy farming at its worst and it is not just Canada, such farming is everywhere.

The problem was bringing Angel home as Yolande already had three other rescue dogs two of which were very docile and her greyhound was so laid back she was horizontal but the new bitch showed major aggression towards all of them.

Angel also had cataracts and Yolande wondered if this was to blame for the aggression. I explained a dog also sees in scent so I doubted this was the problem.

Angel had only been in the house for a day and Yolande found because of the aggression she had to keep them apart behind a child gate. This meant it was at least possible for them to sniff one another. I also suggested she move the bedding round so Angel would become accustomed to the scent of each dog. I expected the aggression was only early days and would settle given a bit of time.

I then got another email to say that when she did try to introduce them the bitch went straight for the docile German shepherd and once she bit she would not let go. The German shepherd made no attempt to retaliate only tried to get away.

This had me worried as I had failed to ask what sex her other dogs were in case this could be bitch-to-bitch aggression. Being ten years as a breed bitch possibly, she felt she should take on the rank of Alpha female. Such Alpha females only offer other less worthy bitch’s three harsh choices. One to leave the pack, two submit totally and three die and this is why you often hear people say fighting like bitches.

Luckily, this was not the case as two were castrated males and the other is a spayed greyhound. There were also good signs as Yolande was moving the feeding bowls closer to the child gate and the earlier growling had gone. She said she would leave her for a time then put her on a lead wearing a muzzle and then let her introduce herself to her other dog’s one at a time.

She went on to say that, she would have expected the SPCA to put the dogs down but because of an impending court case, they could only foster them out. She also said the Canadian animal abuse laws are very lenient and the owner wanted to be a breeder again but her hope was her little Angle could now live her life out in peace.

I can say that as an update, Angel is now settling in well and even had her housetrained in a few days. This is indeed surprising, but I can only credit that to Yolande as having the ability to read dogs well. A further update is Angel jumped the child gate and ran round the house sniffing. During this time she never once bothered her other dogs.

Continuing reading her email, I scrolled further down the page then the pictures came into view. First, how Angel looks now followed by the next three showing how they originally found her. All I can describe such a sight as similar to a pile of rags and yet there was a live dog inside there somewhere.

I read the web site information news and it said that the journalist who went to cover the story began vomiting from the stench and the view of the dogs.

If you would like to read the whole story, please look at www.spcamontreal.com and see the horror for yourself. If you would like to help the Canadian SPCA carry on their excellent work, it is possible to make a donation from the site.

I have purposely kept this article short as the pictures say it all.

Click on the thumbnail to see a bigger version of the picture

Dog Pic 1
This is Hell
Dog Pic 2
Is this really a dog in there?
Dog Pic 3
Which end is the head?
Dog Pic 4
What bit is this?
Dog Pic 5
An Angel emerges from hell
Dog Pic 6
Angel at last finds a heaven

For me my stepping out of this world to enjoy my little bit of heaven I must remember that the bathroom, the bath, the hot water, the sherry, the mince pies, and the music that made up my heaven on earth are all man made. These pictures remind me man is also very capable of making hell here as well.

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