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Alfie, The Story of a Rescue Dog
by Joan
Wright, April 2006
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One day, we had a call from Ann Dixon. Someone
had informed her there was a beardie in Scarborough Animal Services
shelter and he was scheduled to be put down. Bruce and I traveled
the short distance to the shelter, wondering if he would really be a
Beardie. We had been told that it was an “awful place” and that they
weren’t very nice to the dogs and were resistant to rescue members.
When we arrived, we were told to go into Room 1. We looked and saw
nothing but pit bulls – I kid you not. It is very depressing to go
to a shelter and find a room full of pit bulls that you know have a
very short time to live. We had to go back to the receptionist and
tell her there was no Beardie in Room 1. Where was he? She then did
a few phone calls and we found out he was in the lost and found
room. (We later found out he had been found tied to a bus shelter
bench – abandoned). When we went into the lost and found room, there
he was – definitely a Beardie – but what a mess! The shelter had a
policy of releasing dogs to rescue groups for a minimal amount of
money, so we paid the small fee and he was ours! On the way home, we
decided to call him Buster for the time being. He was a very
friendly, but filthy, dog and ingratiated himself right into our
hearts.
The first hurdle when we got home was to introduce him to Bella and
Beau. No problem – he was very dog-friendly and had no problems
integrating himself with the other two. Next came our biggest
problem – he was a dirty mess. When you touched him, your hand came
back black. We started trying to shave him – no way – our clippers
wouldn’t go through the mats and it was obviously quite painful for
him. As there was no way we could bring him in the house, we started
phoning around to see if we could get him groomed. It was Saturday
and absolutely no one would see him that day. We finally decided to
take him to the emergency vet clinic. He would need a surgical shave
and sedation to get it done. Since the mats were so close to the
skin and so huge it was painful for him, a medical route was the
only way he was going to let it happen.
Alfie before
Alfie after
So, we were off to the emergency vet clinic. We left him with the
vet to be sedated and shaved. When we came back to retrieve him,
what a different dog! First of all he was structurally beautiful.
Secondly there was a huge scar from his withers to his tail that we
will never know how he got. But he was happy! He had a jaunty scarf
around his neck and did he feel good! He was strutting around like a
king.
After such a traumatic day, we went home and he was exhausted.
However, he wasn’t too sure of his new surroundings and felt that he
had to crawl into bed in between Bruce and me. He spent the night in
the middle of the bed. Alfie is not a small Beardie – he took up a
lot of room that night and for several nights to follow.
After another traumatic evening – a neuter and a round of shots – he
was ready to go to his forever home. Ann suggested we call the
Charlesworths. They were at our place very quickly. They were about
to go to the Humane Society to get a dog because they had waited so
long for a Beardie. When they came over, it was love at first sight.
We felt they were a great home for Buster, now named Alfie, and they
had fallen in love with him. They took him home and the rest of the
story is told by Ian…..
Alfie's scar
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