Rescued APBT looking for home.

On Monday, my husband and I are going to pick up a new APBT. It is 1yr old, unaltered male. He is supposed to be a purebreed "bluenose".
It sounds like this poor boy has had it bad.

I received a call from some lady in the leasing office at an apartment complex.
Apparently, the story goes as such: This young guy that is a tenant bought the pit puppy.
The apt. complex told him that no pits are allowed.
He told them he got rid of it, but he actually just kept it inside all of the time.
Now nine months have passed, and the tenant called for mainantence to repair something in his apt.
The maint. guy showed up at the apt. no one was home so he entered to fix the problem.
In the bathroom the maint. guy found a little crate with a dog crammed inside.
The dog didn't have enough room to move, lay down, or even sit up fully.
The maint. guy notified the leasing office.
They came out and told the kid he had to get rid of the dog.
So the lady in the leasing office is holding the dog, so it didn't end up in animal control.
The dog is supposed to be shy (from lack of exposure to anyone).
BTW, the kid said he kept the puppy in such a small crate, because someone told him it would keep the dog on the smaller side. The puppy spent 10-16 hours a day in the crate.

I will keep and evaluate the puppy for at least the next week. If I feel that he is temperamentally sound and safe to be around other people, I will try and find a new home. If not, I will have him PTS. I will dread it, but we know it would be for the best. But I would like to be positive and start looking for a home for him, in hopes that everything will work out.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent about stupid people. And if anyone knows of a responsible person in Florida/Georgia-ish area looking for a dog, let me know.
I will post some pics of him once we get him.

 

It sounds like that dog should be put down, to me. Shyness is definitely not a good thing in pit type dogs, but I guess it depends on the extremity...

 

sometimes recue dogs are shy due to prior life issues. some over come it some don't. Not a reason to cull just for shy from a recue dog. Aggression to people yes.

 

give him some time with some new air to breath,,,he will show his true colors and then you can judge,,,agree with attilla,,alot of them are shy like kids are in the begining,,,then wait a week and look out

 

I guess that he thought the dog would be like a fish or something and not grow?...
And no, the dog shouldnt be put down because of shyness. I would think something was wrong with the dog if it wasnt shy from the way he has been treated. Just give him some time and I'm sure he will warm up to you, but remember not to let him "push you around". Show the dog plenty of love and attention but only at the right times. Good luck.

 

Update w/pictures

We went and picked him up yesterday. This poor boy is an absolute mess. When we picked him up he was terrified. He was shaking worse than my chihuahua does. His name was Balou, he didn't like his name and would not respond to it. So I changed his name to Graysen, and he loves it.
Besides being afraid of everything, his physical condition is pretty poor also. He had a choke chain on that was so tight we couldn't fit it over his head, his nails were so long they were curling under and he had to walk flat footed, he has sores all over his neck, down his back, and on his side, and his face is missing a bunch of fur and looks like it is covered in a rash. Oh and I found a lump the size of a marble on the back of his testicles. He will be going into the vet's next week to get it check out. I will probably just neuter him at the same time.

Yesterday I bathed him, dried him, and dremeled his nails. He behaved suprisingly well for all of it. The whole time I was bathing him, he kept licking my face. When we got home with him you could really tell he never was exposed to anything. He was scared of Artemis (our pig), he was scared of the cats, and didn't know how to react to our dogs. He never got aggressive with any of them, which is a really good sign.

This morning he went on a 2 mile walk with me and three of the other dogs, and did really well. He is acting a little more confident today, but is a velcro dog. He won't even stay with my husband, he has to follow me everywhere.

Here are a couple of pics from yesterday. I will try and get some more, once he calms down a little and will actually hold still.
BTW, to me Graysen looks more Am Staff-ish than ABPT. What do you think? He weighed in at 74lbs yesterday.


You can see some of his sores and rashy stuff in this pic.


Here is a picture of his sores on his neck.


In these pics you can see his eye color, which perfectly matches his coat.






I am already getting attached to the little sweetie and I want to keep him. It is going to be rrrrreeeeeaaaaallllllllllllyyyyyy tuff giving him up.

 

Re: Update w/pictures

Poor kid. I missed if this got said, but will there be cruelty charges against the previous owners?

 

God bless you for stepping in & taking care of this dog. My only advice is that he needs to see a vet asap to be checked for intestinal worms/parasites, heartworms, have his heart & lungs checked, have a physical exam to check for any musculoskeletal issues & be vaccinated (you don't want this poor guy coming down with parvo).

 

Re: Update w/pictures

Not to my knowledge. I actually have no idea who his original owner was. I picked him up from the leasing lady that only had him for two weeks. I didn't bother sticking around to ask questions. I was just thankful that we were able to get Graysen out of there.

 

Gosh, what a cute boy! That is so sad. He looks a lot like my rescued blue APBT. I hope you guys find him a good home...and hopefully he doesn't have to wait too long. You guys are doing a great thing! :cool:

 

wow,,I agree, bless you for taking him. even with the sores and his issues he still dosen't look to bad. Looks like everything is fixable on the outside. who knows whats brewing on the inside. let us know what comes of the vet appointment. He does look like a heart stealer.

 

Oh God That Poor Dog. I Hope U Keep Him. He Deserves You.

 

I hope you can keep him as well. If not, screen the potential adopters VERY thoroughly.....mine was adopted out to someone before me who they thought was a good person, but turns out the guy didn't give accurate info. and when my dog ended up in the pound, he didn't even go get him....he was going to let him die. My dog has less than an hour to live....

 

Hubby decided to keep him.

Graysen is improving by leaps and bounds. BTW, my hubby fell in love with him, so I get to keep him. Anyway, Graysen is getting along with everyone; the other dogs, the cats, and the pig. He is gaining confidence and approaching strangers. Today I took him to the Humane Society to have him microchipped and he spent the whole time giving the two women that work there kisses, even while they were inserting the chip. I also took him to Petsmart, and he went up to three different strangers (1 man, 1 teenage guy, and 1 woman). He also met my mom for the first time today and was climbing in her lap to give her kisses. Oh and yesterday he very calmly visited with my neighbors 10yr old son.

I have been unable to find anything that makes him show aggression. I have put him in a "head lock", messed with him while he was eating or chewing on a bone, pulled his tail and ears, grabbed his back legs, etc. Tonto and Puggie (2 of my cats) were even messing with him while he was eating and he didn't really care.

Graysen must have been physically abused too. Whenever you pick up anything (including a toy) he cringes and whines. But he is getting a little better about it.

I will let you know what I find out from the vet on Monday.

 

This is why I have such an admiration for this breed. They can go through absolute hell and still turn out to be wonderful animals. I saw many cases of abused/neglected APBT's at the SPCA and it would break my heart to see these wonderful dogs in such bad physical shape, yet still being loving to the extreme.

I'm so happy to hear that Graysen will be staying for good. It doesn't take long for them to steal your heart LOL.

Just please do remember that this breed can change their attitude about other animals quite quickly when they get a little older. It can happen at any age and can be quite surprising if your not prepared.

Glad to hear he's settled so quickly and best of luck with your new furkid

 

Yay! I am so glad you get to keep him! Congratulations and I am sure you will be SO happy with your decision! :cool: That is some excellent news!

 

the dog might get over the shyness.

 

I don't think he needs to be put down. He has been through a lot and is probably wondering where the hell he is and what is going to happen next. He'll come out of his shell, especially if he already has started to. Just needs a little time. Lots of dogs are shy at first, because they don't know what is going on. He looks like a great dog and sounds like he is coming along just fine.

 

Those patches on his head and neck look like demodectic mange ,my rescue pup Izzy has it too. It is not as bad as sarcoptic mange and is fairly easy to clear up the medicine for it is pretty cheap and alot better for them than the dips so if you do find out that thats what he has it would be a really good idea to try oral meds first ,thats what we did with iz and it took about three weeks for her hair to grow back but she looks 100% better now she has it because of her weakened immune system.When the vet I adopted her from got her she had parvo and almost every kind of parasite a dog can have It is just sick what people do to animals. Well anyway good luck . (also that particular mange is not contagious to other animals)

 

The skin scraping confirmed that Graysen has demodectic mange. We haven't began treatment yet, because the vet said that we should neuter him before the treatment instead of after. We are just waiting on our SPAY USA certificate to arrive.