Today I pulled this fella from a shelter where he was labeled rescue only. He has already bitten five people and he really looked like he was going for number six before we decided to use the pole on him and gently lead him out of the kennel because he really didn’t want to go. Between the looks from him and the curling of the lips to show the teeth, we thought that was the best and least traumatic way to off load him. After observing him once he was out of the kennel, it appears that his aggression is due to a complete lack of social skills. He is not mean, just totally lost and very frightened. When he gets to his rescue, if just one person makes friends with him and shows him that not all people are mean, I believe he will be fine and in time find his forever home. Some just take a little more work than others.

My first impression was, what a dumb name for a St. Bernard. But then he was found as a stray, which means he was probably dumped in the desert by some folks who weren’t too bright to begin with. I went to the shelter to pull this fella, knowing full well he was rescue only and had an aggression issue that was going to be fun to deal with. Looking at the photos, as he was wheeled out of the kennel area, you can’t help wondering how this will turn out. Remember he is 130 pounds or so, so in any wrestling match he just might win. Now for loading, they had to use a pole on him as he wasn’t too cooperative, but not as bad as I have seen. Then it’s off to the vets we go, and wondering all the way how the unloading was going to go. I went into the vets office and settled up on all the paperwork, kept what I needed and gave them what they needed and went back out to the van. I opened the doors and Skippy and I just looked at each other. I told him, it’s either the easy way or the hard way, but somehow we were going to walk together into the vets office. I slowly opened the kennel and placed the slip lead on him, waiting for any reaction from him, good or bad. I had the lead securely on him and said lets go. He jumped down and was just fine, just wanted to smell different places on the walk to the office, acting just like any ordinary dog out for a stroll. We got inside and he was fine with the other dogs present and same with the people. I pulled my slip lead off and put the vets on and off he went to the kennel area, just oblivious to it all. I said thanks Skippy, you just made my day.