In honor of Guard Dog, the faithful chained dog in MUTTS with a heart of gold, we're sharing happy stories about real-life "guard dogs." This special story about a dog named Bigfoot is told in two parts and was submitted by two animal angels: MUTTS reader and Adopt a Pit foster volunteer Melanie Wagner, and Amberlynne Craine, Bigfoot's adoptive fur mom. Thank you, Melanie and Amberlynne!
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From Melanie, Bigfoot's foster mom:
My former foster dog Spirit (now named Bigfoot by his forever family!) came into Adopt A Pit Rescue in Dayton, OH in 2021 after being a “Guard Dog." He lived his whole life chained on a concrete pad in a backyard.
The neighbors tried to help him, but the owners wouldn’t allow them to find Spirit a new home. The only reason the neighbors were finally able to help him was that Spirit tried to jump the fence, still chained, and nearly hung himself by the time the neighbors noticed and were able to get him down.
He came to me to foster and was an absolute angel. Years of laying on nothing but concrete nearly destroyed his hips, so he needed a double FHO, but he was the most friendly, happy, and easygoing dog through it all. We kept him through both surgeries until he was adopted.
His adoptive family saw a post I had made about him before he was ready to be adopted, and continued following up for many months until he was healthy and ready to start his next chapter. They love him so much — his adoptive mom even got a tattoo of his adorable little face with his signature heterochromia (two different-colored eyes)!
The neighbors tried to help him, but the owners wouldn’t allow them to find Spirit a new home. The only reason the neighbors were finally able to help him was that Spirit tried to jump the fence, still chained, and nearly hung himself by the time the neighbors noticed and were able to get him down.
He came to me to foster and was an absolute angel. Years of laying on nothing but concrete nearly destroyed his hips, so he needed a double FHO, but he was the most friendly, happy, and easygoing dog through it all. We kept him through both surgeries until he was adopted.
His adoptive family saw a post I had made about him before he was ready to be adopted, and continued following up for many months until he was healthy and ready to start his next chapter. They love him so much — his adoptive mom even got a tattoo of his adorable little face with his signature heterochromia (two different-colored eyes)!
He’s come a long way from his “before." I hope every Guard Dog has the chance to live like him someday.
(Fun fact: Back in 2021, he was our 9th foster. We get our 30th foster this Sunday!)
From Amberlynne, Bigfoot's "forever" adoptive mom:
From Amberlynne, Bigfoot's "forever" adoptive mom:
My fiance and I got Bigfoot in the summer of 2021. We have a pit mix named Molly and we wanted her to have a friend, so when we saw Bigfoot (Spirit at the time) we couldn't resist. He was just so cute!
Pretty quickly into his adoption we realized he had some bad allergies, so we went and got him tested. Turns out he's highly allergic to 61 of the 80 environmental allergens. We've got him on daily immunotherapy drops and medications to maintain his consistent ear infections due to allergies. Honestly I've never met a dog before with so many heath setbacks that's just so happy!
He's so goofy and sassy, and he's been known to give some pretty criminal side-eye. He loves toys and recently learned how to catch, though once he has the ball you will not be getting it back. He loves our two cats, Pinecone and Newphew. He's quite literally the perfect addition to our little family.
Interested in sharing your Guard Dog rescue story? We'd love to hear from you. Reach out at blog@MUTTS.com or post on Instagram using the hashtag #FreeGuardDog.
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