Merlyn's amazing story

[Countrymama]

For my hubby it was love at first sight with Merlyn. He was a tiny little white GSD that we got from so-called breeders. At four months old he was SO tiny and only weighted 5 lbs if he was lucky! We had a feeling he came from a troubled past so we considered him a rescue. As time went by we noticed the Merlyn had some serious issues, he acted like he was wild at time and other times he was just so sweet you'd fall in love all over again.

This was him at 4 months!


As time went on we did our best with Merlyn but he just seemed "off" ..he was a troubled soul. By now we had found out that the so-called breeders had kept Merlyn and his litter-mates locked in a 2'x2' closet and only fed them once a day by throwing food on the closet floor. Until he met us he had zero human contact. That explained a lot of his behaviors, but not all of them. It literally took 2 yrs for him to be housebroken and he had started to bite people or at least try to. He would just randomly run up and bite you! He was crate trained thankfully so that made living with him a little easier but we still didn't understand how he could be sweet and then suddenly violent. Merlyn was now 3 yrs old (and fixed) but with a small child in the house we seriously started thinking about re-homing him..sadly. He had become my son's best friend but it just wasn't safe. We call rescue centers, shelters..every place we could find that might take him and no one would, they all told us to just put him down. We just couldn't do that and begged people to see how great he really was, most of the time.

He was 3 in this pic and still only weighed 60lbs no matter what we did!


At first we found a trucker friend that offered to take Merlyn as a truck do for him (Meryln had gotten leery of people over time for some reason. The older he got the more "wild" he seemed to turn) He had met Merlyn and instantly fell in love, so did his daughter.While on the road Merlyn attacked the man's daughter who was sleeping in the back cab. He ripped her legs wide open! She recovered but was now afraid of Merlyn and the man vowed to find him a better home. And boy did he come through! The man brought Merlyn to his friend's house in Ark. who specialized in rehabbing troubled dogs. This man too fell in love with Merlyn, even with his past. The first thing they did was take him to the vet. That's were the Merlyn puzzle came together!! Turns out Mr. Merlyn's "fixing" never took but on top of that he wasn't a pure white GSD as we though..he was half Coyote! (That's why he had some wild ways!!) They also discovered that when he was around 6 wks old he had his leg broken in two places along with 2 ribs!! Poor Merlyn!! Well, it's been 2 yrs now and Merlyn loves his new home!! He's on meds to help his "wild side" stay tamed and has a 10 acre farm to play on. He also lives right next door to a coyote rescue center that he is allowed to visit to play with his cousins and introduce new blood to the lines.

This is Merlyn now at 130 lbs! and with his new best friend.


We still miss him terribly but we couldn't be happier for him.

[vat]

Wow what a story and what a difference in Merlyn! He looks fantastic in the last photo all big and shiny. You must be so very happy that he seems to be doing so well.

[Stosh]

Wow- that is some story!

[Whiteshepherds]

Glad Merlyn found a good home.

[Wolfiesmom]

Great story with a wonderful outcome! It's great that Merlin found his "home"