PCAWL Rescue Stories: Joey
Joey's story isn't one of abuse or deliberate neglect, but he did have a hard time finding a permanent home. By the time he came to live with the elderly neighbor of a PCAWL volunteer, he had already lived in 3 other homes in his 18 months of life.
Joey is a friendly, happy fellow, able to adapt to whatever happened,
but a stable family is what he wanted most of all. The elderly lady
loved and pampered Joey, but wasn't able to see that overfeeding him was
not in his best interests. To her old eyes, the little dog as wide as he
was tall looked like a cute little bear. He wasn't able to tell her how
miserable all that hair was in the summer heat. His good nature kept
the old lady happy in her misconception of his well being.
When the old lady died, Joey moved on once again, this time to be
fostered by PCAWL. He was wisked immediately off to the vet where 5
pounds (LITERALLY FIVE POUNDS) of heavy, matted black hair was shaved
off. The little
guy still weighed 60 pounds at that point, about twice
what his healthy weight would be. Joey was put out in a large dog yard
with another young dog to run and play with. He wasn't very happy to go
from unlimited food to a scanty 1 1/2 cups a day, but his energy level
improved as the excess weight came off. Joey still didn't have the
forever home he wanted and he was getting less attention in the foster
home than he was used to.
One fine day, this all changed. He met a new family, complete with a
sister, Maggie Mae. He loved these people immediately and they loved
him back. Now, at long last, Joey lives in a forever home with a good
balance of love and freedom and discipline and a diet designed to trim
him down to his ideal weight. Joey is home at last!
Submitted by Georgia