We had moved to an acreage and my husband wanted to get a dog. I wasn’t a fan of dogs. I had never owned one and really never had desire to own one. My husband worked out of town so I said I would get a dog as long as I could pick the breed. The only dog I ever had a connection with in my life was an English Mastiff. So that is the breed I picked! I found a breeder only 40 min away and immediately contacted him. We met with the breeder a few times and ended up adopting Diesel, at 8 weeks old.
Diesel was such a good dog. He never chewed anything in our house. He had just the right amount of energy for our household. He fit into our life perfectly. We couldn’t have been happier. And I was suddenly a dog person...
One day in March I was sitting in bed with my cat and almost 2 year old Diesel, drinking coffee and watching the morning news. My husband (Matt) was out of town and it was just the pets and myself.
The news was sponsoring a couple of dogs that needed new homes. This comes on the news all the time and I never really think twice about it. I love dogs but I really love English Mastiffs. If an English Mastiff had shown up on the news needing a home, I think these segments would have stuck with me longer. But normally I just say “Awe” in their cuteness and move on with the next part of the news.
The organization that had been looking for Forever Homes for these dogs was having an adoption fair this weekend coming up and they were advertising for it on the news this particular day. For some reason, I looked at their site and what did I find? A half mastiff who was looking for a home! He was a much smaller dog than Diesel would be, as he was only half mastiff but I immediately wanted him!
My husband was going to home for the adoption fair and I convinced him we should go see if this dog was at the fair. We went. He wasn’t there but we filled out the paperwork to adopt him and we were approved! Then we were told that there were 6 other families who wanted this dog and priority would be given to all of them before us, as they were there before us… So we went home and waited...hoping all of those 6 families wouldn’t work out...lol. One did. My husband wasnt completely convinced we needed a second dog anyways.
May rolled around and Diesel turned two. When we adopted Diesel, we signed a contract saying we wouldn’t get another dog for 2 years. For some reason, to me, that meant at 2 years I could get another dog lol. Frustrated with the adoption process I decided to contact the breeder that we got Diesel from. I wasn’t looking to get a puppy but I knew he would always rehome dogs if they were in need, almost like a foster parent for dogs. I emailed him on a Friday at 9 pm. I told him I was looking for a friend for Diesel and that I wanted a rescue. I asked if he knew of any dogs looking for a new forever home. Saturday morning at 8 am the breeder was calling my husbands cell phone. Matt missed the call but he listened to the message and relayed to me that someone had returned Diesels sister to them 3 weeks ago and she needed a new home. She was quite sick but once she was healthy again we could adopt her, if we were interested! I was so excited!!
Matt, not so much…. A sick dog? Diesel had been to the vet for checkup’s and shots but had never had a single issue with his health. Anyone who has ever owned a giant breed dog knows what it means to have a dog with health issues… Even something as simple as getting an anitbiotic prescription would cost much more than a small dog just due to the amount that has to be given.
I immediately called the breeder back, I wanted more information! Ok, I just wanted to go get her, right then and there! Sick or not, I knew I was bringing Diesel’s sister to her forever home that day. I asked the breeder if I could come meet her. A couple of hours later, I was pulling up to his house, Diesel in tow. My husband stayed home. His last words to me as I drove away were “Don’t bring home a sick dog”
When I arrived Diesel and I were greeted by the breeder (Dave), his wife (Veronica) and Diesels mom. We sat around and chatted about Diesels sister (Lulu). She had been neglected. The people who had her kept her, admittedly, in a kennel for up to 15 hours a day. Lulu had 2 ear infections, an infection in her vagina and a whole body skin infection. She was very itchy and scared of everything, including being outside. They didnt know for sure but she was very skiddish (more around men) and they think that she may have been hit by a man. They had taken her to the vet and she was on meds for all of her health issues.
Lulu had been spayed too early and she filled out differently than Diesel. She grew up instead of out. Her head didn’t fill in and neither did her chest.
Just by the conversation I was having with Dave, I knew he had a special place in his heart for Lulu and even though I was going to give her a great home, I could tell her really didn’t want to let her go. Dave makes people go through interviews with potential forever homes to try and ensure this never happens. Unfortunately, it still did and its heartbreaking.
At this point they let Lulu outside. Diesel ran over to say hello and she looked like she was going to be attacked. She was so nervous.
I was about 5 meters from the door she came out. As soon as she got outside she sat down and wouldn’t move from the door. I stayed where I was and waited for her to come to me. I wanted her to be comfortable. We continued to talk about her and about 40 min later she had slowly crept over to where we were standing and I finally got to cuddle this poor soul. She was skin and bones. Diesel had so much muscle compared to her.
Once Dave saw she was comfortable with me I wanted to know the answer to the big question...when could I take her home??? Dave wanted me to wait until she had finished all of her meds to ensure she was healthy before I took he home. Veronica said I could take her that day. I saw Dave’s heart break a little but he reluctantly agreed. I was so happy! Diesel finally had his new companion!
I owned an Escalade which had lots of room for both dogs and it was a small step for them to get in. It was the perfect vehicle for them. Diesel could jump right in.
Taking Lulu home was quite the experience. We barely got her to the vehicle, which she was scared of. Then she wasnt strong enough to get in on her own. All three of us struggled to get this 165 pound dog into the back of the Escalade. We succeeded and I was on my way home to show Lulu her new life!
As soon as I left, I called my husband. I told him all about Lulu’s past and then about her health. I told him I wanted her and that she needed to come live with us. At this point he asked “where is she?” To which I answered “in the back seat”. And that’s when our lives changed forever.
I pulled into the driveway with Lulu and Diesel. Our new crew! Lulu now had 3 acres, a forever home with no kennel, no leashes, lots of bones, and a family who would do anything to make her happy. She just didn’t know it yet.
She didn’t know us. She didn’t trust us and she didn’t know what her future was going to be like. I had never had a rescue nor did I have any experience with one but I could see that Lulu was confused, scared, anxious and stressed out. Our home was her third home in a month. Her third family in a month.
I thought having Diesel would just turn her into a regular happy dog and she would forget about her past. I was wrong. Lulu will be forever scarred by her past life even though she has made great strides in her new life. Diesel has been a great companion for Lulu and has helped her to take chances in life that she wouldn’t if she hadn’t seen Diesel do it first. But four years later and we still have an anxious dog.
Diesel has always slept in our bed, cuddled into my hair. There are dog beds on the floor but I guess ours is cozier. The first night we had with Lulu she wouldn’t even come in our room without us guiding her, nevermind sleep on the dog beds there. We ended up pushing her into our bed. She needed extra cuddles and we were determined to give them to her. At the time, we didn’t realize the consequences of this. Once Lulu got stronger she was able to get into our bed without help. Until Diesel got too heavy to get in and out of our bed we had 365 pounds of dog sleeping in our bed every night, lol. It worked out fine while my husband was out of town working but once he was home, the struggle was real. Four years later and our princess Lulu still sleeps in our bed, every single night.
On the first morning with Lulu we woke up to small puddles of pee all over our house. It was everywhere. We let Lulu outside where she continued to pee small amounts all over the yard. Off to the vet we went. We were sure she had a UTI. A million tests later and she didn’t have a UTI and they were not sure why she kept peeing like that. That was our first visit and Lulu was no longer a “free” dog.
The vet became our weekly outing with Lulu. She had another problem or a continuing problem that didn’t go away, continuously for 2 years. We changed vets to get second opinions and nothing seemed to make Lulu comfortable all the time. She was constantly itchy, to the point where she would gnaw her paw pads off or just sit in the middle of the floor crying from being uncomfortable. We were at a loss. We tried different foods from raw to dried to grain free to eliminating certain ingredients. Nothing helped her itchiness, which ended up being an unknown allergy.
She was still constantly battling her peeing problem. The vet said she had a hooded vagina which kept some of her urine in by her vagina after she goes pee. This was creating infection in her vagina. Now he had to wipe her vagina every time she came inside to try and curb the infection. It helped but didn’t fix her problem. Antibiotics would help her peeing problem for a couple months but it always returned.
That was just the health side of Lulu that we had to constantly keep up with. We were upset we couldn’t magically fix her. We also had to take care of this girl emotionally. She was a mess.
I talk with my hands alot. I didn’t realize it until we got Lulu. I can wave my hands around Diesel all I want and he just stands there looking at me wondering what I am doing. Same scenario with anxious Lulu and she cowers and looks like she’s going to be hit.
I used to take Diesel to the dog park everyday before Lulu came. We had 3 acres but Diesel really enjoyed seeing other people and sniffing other sniffs than he could at home. On the first week of owning Lulu we felt she was ready to go for a dog park walk. We kept her on a leash just to make sure we could keep tabs on her. She was uncomfortable with the whole situation. There was too much going on for her and her anxiety was on high alert. We decided to leave. We made it back to the parking lot and that’s where she sat down and decided she was going no further. She didn’t recognize our vehicle as her own yet and so she didn’t know what to do. I ended up pulling right up to the grass and we had to struggle to get her in.
That’s when we realized that life with Lulu wasn’t going to be as easy as it was with Diesel. Lulu was going to take a lot more effort. And alot more patience. We were going to have to make her a more confident dog. We were going to have to work for it. It wasn’t just going to happen like it did with Diesel.
I had never experienced an anxious dog before. As much as Lulu was going to learn about her new free life, I was going to also learn to live with a forever anxious dog. Little did I know our adventure together had only just begun…
