Ive never replied to a thread on here so hope Im doing it right...
I normally "sit on my hands" when I read comments on here but reading 'Willem's comment that the owner of this dog "needs some credit for raising such a fine dog" and assuming that because the dog was lovely, friendly and happy with MonElite, meant the owner was possibly a "good guy and loving owner" (my words) finally made me get off my hands..
About 10 years ago we rescued a dog who was being beaten by its owner. We tried RSPCA first but all they did (to be fair it was in NZ and not australia) was go to the house and check on the dog which at the time they went there, was in a kennel and had water so they werent interested any further. Thru perhaps "devious means" (they were selling their house and had an Open Home which I went to solely to see the dog) I went there and discovered that the reason the dog was laying in his kennel was because he could not get up!!
I was so upset that that night I sent my husband around to the house with a story that I had seen the dog, fallen in love with him (all true) and would they be interested in selling him to us emphasing the fact that they were moving and it would be easier for them. His answer to my husband? "Yea you can just have him - I was just going to take him out in the bush and shoot him anyway" !!
Even after all this time it still makes me cry to think about this beautiful dog and what was done to him - when my husband got home with him that night, myself and our two boys sat on the floor so as not to scare him and that beautiful dog slowly hopped in to a house he had never been in before on 3 legs dragging his shattered hip and leg behind him and went to each person with a loving lick of hello and then curled up as best he could on my knee (I was cross legged on the floor). He had been beaten soo badly and thrown against a fence (his crime? Going near the babies nappies that were on the floor!) and not for the first time but even the vet the next morning said he simply didnt have an aggressive bone in his body.
So 'Willem', dogs know when they are with someone who will not hurt them and they enjoy that small "time of freedom and joy" but their happy demeanour at that time certainly does not mean that they are not treated badly or abused when they are with the owner. Going on MonElites description of how the dog acted when the owner arrived I would totally agree with her assumption and I really hope there is some way that that poor dog can be helped before it could be too late.
My story did not have a happy ending - the beautiful boy we rescued was so badly beaten the vet couldnt put his shattered hip and leg back together and because his other back leg was weak from old fractures amputation was out of the question.
