The Rescue of Dennis – Adopt, Don’t Shop

This is the story of how our beloved Denny-boy joined our family almost 7 years ago now, back in 2014.

Rainbow”s End Animal Sanctuary, Apple Valley California, 2013

My mom, having volunteered with animals her entire life, was contacted by the rescue organizations working with him. They estimated he was about 4-6 years old when he was rescued. Dennis’ situation was very unique, and his survival was pure luck. He came from a hoarding situation in Apple Valley California, a property in an isolated area of the desert, holding more than 200 dogs.

A chainlink fence enclosed the property, and the dogs were fed about once a week, a bucket of kibble thrown through the fence. Sometimes people would stop along the road and toss the emaciated dogs scraps.

As one can imagine, a bucket of kibble a week was not sufficient for 200 ravenous dogs. Naturally, there was a lot of fighting and packs formed. Dennis still has a reminder in the form of a scar following the inside of his right eye, sliced open by a claw. And just this year, the deep cracks on the pads of his paws have finally healed.

Once authorities stepped in to handle the situation, they only had 24 hours before the dogs were sent to a kill shelter. Messages were sent out to rescue organizations to try and find places willing to take them, but a lot of the dogs had no chance of being saved. There was no choice but for them to be put down, whether it was because they were too sick, emaciated or dangerously aggressive.

The rescue that reached out to my mom, Last Chance Rescue, had brought up 10 dogs to Vancouver, British Columbia, by train.

Dennis is a beautiful boarder-collie retriever cross, with the brightest auburn eyes you’ve ever seen. When he came to us, he was absolutely petrified of people and extremely anxious. He was considered a lost cause, unable to be rehabilitated or around other animals because he was just too scared. But they wanted to at least try with him, and my mom had this gut feeling that we needed to meet him in person. So, he came over and stayed in his carrier the entire visit. But looking at him was like looking at a human.

I was about 11 years old at the time. I can remember when all the adults had gone downstairs to check out where his sleeping area would be, foolishly sliding to the carrier’s door and reaching inside to pet him. He side-eyed me the whole time, but let me gently brush his smelly coat.

Now, that is definitely something that I should never have done. If it hadn’t been Dennis, there was a very good chance I would have gotten mauled or my nose bitten off, and there was certainly no way of me knowing at the time how he would react to me. The point is, don’t do what I did.

But thankfully, he didn’t maul me, and that experience was special for both of us. That was one of the first moments of love that he had shared with a human.

That night, we decided that we would take the chance and foster him. Adoption wasn’t even on our minds at that point. I will never forget how he greeted me the morning after when I, alone and again making poor and risky decisions, snuck downstairs early to see him. He trotted to me in an excited manner, proceeding to rub his torso all over my legs, wagging his tail with his mouth hanging open. However, he quickly snapped out of it, almost like he was holding himself back from trusting, and slunk back to his hiding corner.

Despite our tender moment, the months that followed were difficult and he wasn’t eager to show affection like that again. Dennis wasn’t food aggressive or aggressive towards our chihuahuas, and he truly had a sweet demeanour but was just terrified of us and afraid of his own shadow. He had never been in a harness or walked on a leash before, so for hours, my mom would walk him in circles around our back yard. He would snap at the leash, throw himself on the ground and struggle with the harness, desperately trying to escape. He’d also never been kenneled without being transported before, so he often trashed his bed while being trained. One time, he even burst open the metal door to get out. Obviously, working with Dennis took a lot of patience, but it was worth it.

Now, if we fast forward to 2020, Dennis is the most amazing family dog. We fell in love with him, especially my dad, and we knew we could never part with him.

When Dennis joined the family, he had only 2 brothers, our chihuahuas. But since then, he has gained and impressively adjusted to 7 other brothers and sisters. 4 of those siblings being cats. On the property he was living, they would hunt squirrels, birds, mice, cats – whatever they could find. So, that was one thing the rescue was always certain of: he could never be around cats, even though he had successfully been rehabilitated.

But here we are, and Dennis is closer with the cats than he is the dogs! He is a happy dog, who loves to go outside, go for walks and play with his toys. He is still anxious and isn’t a great cuddler, but he is the most loyal and well-behaved boy.

All of our animals have been rescues, and there are countless reasons to adopt rather than purchase a pet.

Adoption rescues more than one animal, and Dennis’ situation is a perfect example. His adoption opened up space for another dog to be rescued, saving another sweet baby’s life!

Adoption takes business away from puppy mills who over-breed their animals purely for profit. Over-breeding means to breed the animal more than their body can handle, which has major negative effects on not only the mother’s life but her puppies too. Over-breeding has many consequences that include, but are not limited to, respiratory issues, joint problems, ocular problems, and hearing loss.

Adoption will also cost you less than buying a pure-bred, considering that the first vaccinations and the cost of the neuter/spay process are usually already included in the adoption fee. Purchased animals, for reasons explained above, always have more health problems.

It is important to note that when we made the decision to foster and ultimately adopt Dennis, we knew that we would need to put a lot more work into him than a common rescue. Most cases are not like Dennis though, and a lot of the time animals end up in shelters because of decisions their owners make and not bad behaviour from the pet. A lot of the babies are well-behaved, house-trained, and confused as to where their home went. They are just waiting to be loved again.

Rescue animals have an obvious sense of deep gratitude that purchased animals don’t. They know what it is like to be unwanted and mistreated, and they recognize that you were the one who saved them. You become their person, their super-hero and protector, and they are loyal to a fault.