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Every now and then you have an adoption story that means more than
some of the others. No big deal with some of the easy dogs, but it's
the difficult dogs that make this all so much more rewarding.
Sabra (renamed Alexis) was picked up as a stray in the middle of the state in mid February of 2002. Her coat was a terrible mess and she definitely had some issues with her collar and also some plain old dominance problems. I'm pretty sure it was fear aggression. If you grabbed her by the collar wrong when she was excited she would bite down. Never broke the skin but definitely sent a message. When Cynthia contacted PAS about Alexis, we discussed it with Laurie and Keith who were fostering her, and Laurie told me that they had begun talking about euthanizing her because of liability problems. OMG, i never thought she was that bad, and they had been working with her. And they admitted that it was a low point in their relationship with her. She was however, a very sweet girl otherwise and just wanted to be near you.
We all thought that maybe Alexis might do better in a much quieter environment. Laurie and Keith have 5 other dogs so there is always a lot of commotion when they come home from work. Cynthia is a single woman, with a 9 yo samoyed boy who finally was out looking for another dog a year after her last one died. She also works out of her home. Of course we discussed extensively Alexis' problems and she was willing to take a chance. You know it's going to be a special home when they arrive with a video camera to chronicle the exact moment the two dogs first meet!!!
Cynthia is an AMAZING dog person and though Alexis still is working through some of her fears, Cynthia feels she has been a blessing. Alexis just needed to prove that underneath that very thick coat and her gruff tendencies, that she was just a little lost girl that needed to show how good she can be.