Rescue dogs come with baggage
 

A poem by Evelyn Colbath comes with every adoption
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/wo...em-adopted-dog

We were owned by a rescued Gordon for some wonderful years. One of the sweetest dogs I’ve ever known. She wagged her tail on point, but I came to see that as one of her many endearing traits.

I'm living with two rescue Labs. Couldn't pick two better roommates or two better hunting partners.:bowdown:

All three current dogs are rescue. The last a labradoodle puppy mill mom. Spent first three years locked in a kennel in a basement, making puppies. She wasn’t socialized, house broken or trained in any way. She was terrified of men. She was in three adoptive homes in three months before landing with us. The rescue never cashed our check. Six years later, she’s the greatest and would tear through a wall for my wife if she was in any kind of trouble.

Jeff, thanks for the happy ending...

For me, this is about our little rescue dog, Riley. She came to us via a friend of a friend referral.
A young couple bought her at a pet store, (of all places) knowing absolutely zero about owning a high powered German bird dog. She evidently drove them crazy with her unhinged behavior.
She was very quiet and withdrawn on the hour drive home. Apparently totally traumatized by the sudden loss of her previous family, and was one of the toughest training challenges I have ever had. And there's been quite a few.
Her previous home was a small house with about a 10' by 40' back yard, a couple of kids, and the mother expecting a baby in about a month.
I'm guessing her exercise came from rough-housing through-out the home. She was totally out of control! She lives in the country now, and runs and plays with her adopted sisters every day.
Riley was a little stand-offish, at our initial meeting. She suffered from extreme separation anxiety, and was very destructive when left alone.
I noticed she was object shy, so I suspect there may have been a little bit of abuse from her previous owners. Off leash, she tended to want to run away.
After a pretty rough 6 months or so, we started seeing progress. Training was strict, but absolutely limited to e-collar, verbal commands, and verbal punishment. No physical (hitting) ever! The most extreme punishment was picking her up by the scruff, and dropping her. That, and verbal is all!
Trained her on pigeons, and slowly introduced guns. Starting with .22 RF snake shot out of a rifle.
Then the .410, where we actually shot birds, worked up pretty quickly to the 12 ga. No sign of gun shyness, which was my biggest fear. She is a fairly reliable retriever, with a very strong prey drive. At 45 lbs, she is a very compact, and highly athletic pup. After a tough year of intensive training, she has become a push-button dog, and maybe one of my all time favorites.
Finally, at the end of the quail season, I managed to shoot one Gambel's quail for her. She's hooked, and is constantly on the lookout for more!
Here's a few pics:

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Todd, your dog has gone to heaven on earth.

I feel like I have been blessed by her coming into our lives, and cannot imagine not having her.

Great work, Todd. You are helping that pup achieve what God put her on earth to do....

Dave

We rescued a 69 pound brittany in 2017, our dog is nothing short of a miracle, he is a great bird dog, a great companion, he had no hunting experience when we got him, he was 2.5 years old. I swear he knew he got a 2nd chance and he has certainly made the best of it. My sweet wife runs that dog every morning (if I cannot) that dog made our marriage stronger, she feels safer with a bigger dog around, win, win, win, for everybody!!