Well, [MENTION=959]kazzy220[/MENTION], i used to have two eb puppies and i had to leave them when i divorced my ex husband. since then there had been a hole in my heart waiting for a bully to come fill it.
Butler was found as a stray (can you believe it?!) and had lived in a couple homes before he had been left in the streets to fend for himself. Rescue found him wandering the streets and took him in. The vet estimates him to be between 2-3 years old, he had cherry eye and needed to be neutered. No major health issues. he had been in rescue for about three months when a man tried to adopt him, had butler for one week and decided "bulldogs are too gross. they fart and burp, i just can't do it". what a fool!
I went to a pet expo here in phoenix to visit my friend who runs the bulldog rescue and i was looking at the photo album of available dogs. karen told me that butler was still available, had been in rescue for 3 months and was "wild" but she thought i would be able to tame him since i had experience training and showing my last eb.
so i told her i'd do it! i want to be his forever home, as soon as i move from our apartment to a house. I didn't want him to move around too much and be stressed out since he had already been through so much in his short life. I moved in to our house and was ready to take butler, but his foster parents told me to wait a week because he was really sick. My heart dropped! I cried for him, hoping it was nothing bad. It took well over a week for the vet to get results but when they did they told the foster home and they relayed to me that butler had a very bad valley fever infection. This is so sad because dogs, like people, lose their ability to fight off infection when they are experiencing emotional stress and turmoil. Butler got valley fever after he had been abandoned and couldn't find a home or people to love him. Lots of dogs can test positive for v.f. but never present with symptoms because their immune systems are well enough to cope, but animals that are suffering in emotional ways are hit much harder. So they asked if I still wanted to adopt him, knowing he'll be on medication for at least 9 months, possibly his whole life, and i said "well, yeah!" Even more than before. not only did some scumbag leave him for dead, now he is ill too?!?! poor guy of course i want to give him a happy home.
So i got him the next week, and the following 8 weeks were torture because i thought he was going to die half the time. he couldn't move without yelping or screaming in pain, he couldn't move his neck to eat so i had to hand feed him, the infection got in his legs so bad that when he would potty he would fall into his poo/pee and need to be bathed, he slept 90% of the day, and was totally listless. He finally started to turn around and now he is a new boy! better and better every day! We've come a long way and he loves and trusts me more each day as well, which is so nice. He use to cower or wince when i would come too close too fast, flinch when i would go to pet his head, always walk in a really scared submissive posture, but now he is more confident and doesn't act like he's going to get abused when we come around. He is very obedient, i always say he is my perfect angel. he really doesn't do anything wrong. such a well mannered boy and so gentle with everyone he meets. kids, adults, dogs, and kitties.
So now he is my best buddy and i just do what i can to make up for his past and show him all the love and affection that he deserves!
