The Great Crate Debate Thread got a little hot so I hoped to cool it down a little by posting the below. In doing so I realized there were many people who might not visit that thread that would want to know about Dumpy, so here is his story
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Crates Are Definitely Good In Rescue Situations
"Dumpy"
Date 12/15/00
We noticed a new blue pickup truck stopped at the end of our gravel drive. The driver spotted us watching, jumped back into their truck and hurriedly spun out and down the road. A small dog scrambled onto the road, running and barking after the pickup. Another dumped dog!
I got into my van as fast as I could (with my gimpy foot) and raced up the road. There on the side of the road was a mixed black and white male dog the size of small beagle. I would guess his lineage consisted of fest and blue heeler. I used all my usual "come here, doggie" skills to no avail. He was so frightened he just ran off into the woods.
During the next three days, I caught a glimpse of him, but having recently been bitten by a strange dog, I was not agile enough to get close to him.
On the fourth morning, I put a couple of slices of left over pizza in Angel's food bowl. Angel picked up a large piece and headed off down the drive. I watched as she went to the place along side the road where the little dog had entered the woods. I waited about an hour, gave her another piece and watched as she did it again. Angel, (my Guardian Angel), was taking care of the "dumped dog". Maybe she recognized in the dog the same fears as she had when she was dumped out at very near the same place.
Today, coming back from the vet's I saw the "dumped dog". His sides were sunken in and he looked so pitiful lying in a grassy area beside the road waiting for his family to come back!! I stopped. He ran. It was obvious the only food he had were Angel's pizzas.
I returned with dog food and water to where I had last seen him. When I stopped the van, he ran. When I placed the food near by, he was so hungry he could barely wait for me to leave.
I returned 30 minutes later to a dog in a much better frame of mind but still really frightened. Using all my doggie skills, I was finally able to get my hands on him and managed to hold his head away from me so he couldn't bite. A scared dog WILL bite. I had come prepared with a dog crate in the van. He curled up in the back of it and just shook.
Tomorrow, we'll go slowly, and the next day and the next day and one day soon, he will make someone a great pet the only problem is people don't want a grown mixed mutt. He needs to be given the best chance possible so I'll take him to the vet for his shots and have him neutered. We'll teach him to love and trust and walk on a lead. Just maybe some day soon someone will say, "Hey, I'd like to have that dog." In the meantime, he won't be shot, run over, freeze or starve.
Our county does not have a Humane Society or an Animal Shelter so people just dump dogs and cats along the side of the road, or worse!
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Today, Dump is still with us. There have been a lot of people to comment on how cute he is or try to make friends, but he just wants to be with us content to be free to run the farm and smell chicken cooking in the crockpot overnight. Below is a picture of him a day or so after I brought him home. I keep him in the crate for a week. I took him out to a potty pen for 2 days until he got use to us. Then I allowed him to go out on his own but he returned to the crate. After about a week he decided he didn't want to come into the house he wanted to be outside with his friend Angel.
If you look close in the above picture of Big John you will see a little bit of Dumpy behind Boomer.
I hope this story gives you a warm fuzzy feeling and demostrates the need for using crates in rescue situations.
Judy
