New Opportunity for Sarge Dogs, Diesel & Junebug
1/1/10 Donna Lindsay

Many of you may not know all of our rescued dogs personally - their behaviors, quirks, likes and dislikes. The Sarge Selection Committee does an awesome job of pulling all that we can from the shelter, often under last-minute, last-ditch time constraints. All in all, we have enjoyed seeing most all of the "kids" brought medically back to health and then happily off to wonderful Forever Homes. But we have had 4-5 dogs for several months now who, because of some weird behavioral quirk, have lost the privilege of attending adoption events. One loves other dogs but had barrier aggression whenever a fence or pen was placed between her and another dog, like the pens and wire crates used at adoption events. One was just so anxious from his former neglected life that he continuously cried. One found a home but could not stand being confined while the family worked and came back dubbed destructive. This last one also became hyper and anxious, just so happy to see anyone that he physically knocked them down trying to receive their affection.

Then there was Diesel (who came to us with the name "Droopy") who loves everyone and is still just a big baby at 18 months. Unfortunately, he is also 80 lbs and is obsessed with the game tug-of-war, especially with his leash on walks. Volunteers cannot handle him safely at adoptions and nearly everyone loses control when walking him. He was doomed to stay behind most of the summer, watching his other buddies happily load up for Petsmart.

Junebug is a sweet Walker hound who also loves everyone. She leans into you for hugs and loves all other dogs she meets too. Junie, however, has something reversed in her psyche that keeps her from learning house training. She will hold it for hours when walking on a leash, just to go potty as soon as she hits her run again. Obviously, this makes her unadoptable to the normal family as an indoor pet, our dream for all of the dogs we rescue.

Recently, we started reaching out where we had never tried before and thought, what the heck, Best Friends in Utah is the largest and most visible rescue organization for troubled dogs, right? Almost immediately after a plea was emailed for help with these 5 dogs, I received a call from Robin, Community Specialist for Best Friends Sanctuary. I was floored, to say the least, and Robin decided that she would champion Diesel and Junebug at the Admissions meeting the following day. All that night she, Caitlin and I worked on emailing and faxing document after document in preparation for this meeting. Robin called me the next evening to say that both of our kids were accepted and we began the process of arranging their travel.

Diesel