Results Of A Chained Unsocialized GSD
 

An old neighbor contacted me about a guy who left his 3 year GSD chained in the back yard and hasn't returned. Nobody was coming by to feed the dog and she's been feeding him for about a week now,and has tried to get in contact with the owner,but hasn't gotten any response. I didn't have any room for him,but another rescue friend had space available. I rode over there with her to meet the dog,and he took treats, was very friendly and glad to see someone else. This dog had 4 different lengthed ropes tied around his neck, plus a chain. None of the collars were embedded,but they were so tight they had to be cut off.

I had to go back to the car to get a crate and that's when I heard her screaming.This dog had her pinned down and managed to put several large puncture wounds in her head. She has experience in dealing with dogs that have testy temperaments,and wasn't leary of this dog at all. She did say that she tripped over his leash,and that may have been what set the whole thing off. A man happened to be walking down the street and helped me get the dog off of her.

Someone else in the neighborhood saw what was happening and called AC. The officer knew both of us and was aware of the work that we do with shelters but still had to take this dog in.

According to the woman who's been looking after him and other neighbors, this dog has been chained up for his entire life. A lot of people didn't like it, but because he was being 'provided for', there was nothing AC could do about it at the time.

I am writing this because I think that this could have been avoided if this man would have taken the time to socialize his dog,instead of chaining him up and leaving him like garbage.Nobody knows where this guy is and he may get away with this,while his dog has to pay for his selfishness.

Yikes... It makes me wonder if my dogs were in the same situation if they'd react similarly...so sad

Maybe I did not understand. You and this lady who had never seen this dog before go into the backyard of his home, and feed him some treats. After checking how tight his collars/leads are, you head off for your car, and while you are out there, the other person trips on the lead.

Did she actually fall onto the ground? Did it yank the dog by its tight collar when this happened?

I guess I think it is a lot to ask, to have a chained dog meet some strangers in its yard and then have one slip and fall and possibly yank a possibly painful lead around in the process.

It is also possible that the low-life scumbag that owned him did more than just pitch him out in the back yard and hit the road. It is possible that the guy deliberately tried to make the dog protective. A lot of people don't socialize the dogs and even treat them harshly to try to make them guard dogs.

Cujo used to spend an hour every morning in the back yard on a chain. Some broad came by with treats and started feeding him treats from the Insurance Company parking lot next door. Cujo had all kinds of issues, medications and skin problems, and that was totally inappropriate. I understand that your situation was different, but if that lady freaked him (Cujo) out by tripping over his lead and he bit her, I would not have held it against him.

Scarey stuff- first of all how is your friend doing? That could have been a disaster if she had have gone there by herself :(

Poor dog, spending it's whole life on a chain, no surprise it has issues.
People that chain their dogs permanently generally aren't overly interested in "socialising" or owning a dog in general.

I hope your friend is okay. I had a friend whose dog scalped her (we think the dog had a brain injury. He hung himself out of the car and lost consciousness when he was being turned into the shelter before she adopted him), it took a long time for her to recover from the pain.

Valuable lesson to never be alone with a dog that you just met. Especially one that has been chained all their life. Chaining can really screw up a dog's brain and makes their natural guarding instincts come out.

I was contacted by a woman that used to live next to me about this situation. She told me 2 months ago about this dog being left outside on a chain all of the time and how bad she felt for him. I just met the dog yesterday after she told me that this guy moved out.

When my friend tripped she fell all the way down when the leash got tangled around her feet. She's had dog bites before,but this was the most severe. This woman who called us about the dog went out to the yard with us because the dog knew her,but she couldn't get him untied because of he was jumping and mouthing her. Otherwise we would have had her bring him out of the yard since he knew her. The woman went in her house to get a knife so that this dog could be cut loose.

She's doing ok, they kept her overnight and I will pick her up later to take her home. She actually wanted to go home right after she was seen.

I am very sorry to hear of this happening to your friend. It\'s obvious ya\'ll were attempting to help this dog.

I think this story should serve as a wake up call to anybody who handles a strange dog.

Did that dog have his rabies shot? Are they doing anything about that? :( So sad.

Oh my gosh, that must have been a scary couple of minutes. I feel for the dog, what is going to happen to him?