Latest Belgian Malinois rescue

Envy is continuing to strengthen her hip, and can now go down stairs by herself. She still needs help going up stairs though. Her follow up at the orthopedist was moved back a couple of weeks in order to allow her false hip joint to continue to develop.

Still not comfortable around men; that’s going to be an uphill climb.

All in all she continues to progress. Here she is this morning (Looking at my wife)

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Envy continues to steadily improve. Earlier this week she had a session with a trainer in Clayton that should provide some insight on how we get her past her fear of men.

Here she is yesterday with two of our five. Kinjie on the left (half Mal, half great ’Pyrenees), and Maya in the baby pool. Maya is 50-50 GSD and Mal.

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SSgt75 said:
Such good news for such a sweet girl.
What's going to happen when she gets well? Will you keep her with the other beautiful playmates she has there?

If you need more support for her just let us know.
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Thanks for asking and that's a good question.

Envy is really bonding with my wife, and gets along well with the other dogs. However, we've tried to follow the philosophy of adopting them out when they get well because "that makes room at the inn" for the next guest so to speak. If we keep them all, we won't be able to take on one in medical need, such as Envy was when she came here.

So I'd say that there is a 50-50 chance that we'll adopt her out once she is well healed and works through her fear of men.

We've placed 3 Mal rescue's already this year. All went to great homes where they are the center of attention.
 
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Mr. Bggs said:
Start giving her treats, she'll learn to love you. My dog prefers the boys in the house bc we feed him more than the girls do.
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I've tried the treat route but she's still a bit skittish. We're going to have me start giving her breakfast and supper and see how that works.
 
Mr. Bggs said:
Stick with it. Once she knows when you walk in she gets snacks it'll take hold.

Once she starts coming to you give a little love and increase it each time.

You guys are hero's for doing this!
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That's probably the only love she's had in her short life is what she's gotten from y'all. It wasn't love that made her skittish of men. If I didn't have two elder (15 &16yo) dogs I'd love to adopt Envy.
 
Envy continues to make great progress! She got the “all clear to be a dog” report from the orthopedic surgeon yesterday!

Last weekend she did an 11 hour round trip roadtrip with Laureen and Kinjie to deliver a horse to Savannah.

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That’s her zonked out next to Kinjie in the back seat of Laureen’s F450 During the Savannah road trip.

And last night she even came up to me in the middle of the night and let me pet her for a minute or two before laying back down. Great progress all-around.

So now the hard question will come to the forefront - will Envy be a “foster fail” or not.

You always want to keep them all but the other side of the coin is that we have 5 dogs, and if she ended up in a home with only 1 or 2 dogs she would get a lot more attention. Plus adopting her out “makes room at the inn” so to speak for the next guest.

Tough decisions, but we rejoice at her progress.
 
It's bittersweet when we place one, but so often when we do and later see how much love and attention the animal receives from it's new family - it reinforces that we made the right call.

Neither my wife or I would object to keeping Envy forever, but we also know that if the right home opens up it's almost always in the best interest of the animal.

We've placed three Mal's so far this year. One went to Canada, one went to Pennsylvania, and the other to the NC coast. All appear to be in great homes and are doing very well.
 
Scsmith42 said:
It's bittersweet when we place one, but so often when we do and later see how much love and attention the animal receives from it's new family - it reinforces that we made the right call.

Neither my wife or I would object to keeping Envy forever, but we also know that if the right home opens up it's almost always in the best interest of the animal.

We've placed three Mal's so far this year. One went to Canada, one went to Pennsylvania, and the other to the NC coast. All appear to be in great homes and are doing very well.
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It appears you guys know who needs to get some Mali love … so you’ll know who is right for Envy … the right humans and other canine company (which she sure seems to like) … you guys WILL know!
 
Unfortunately we have been "foster fails" much too often, but it is a very rewarding experience when you do place one in a "right" situation. Praying for your success in this effort.
"It's ALL about the Dogs"
 
Looks like Envy will become a "foster fail" - LOL. She is slowly coming around to me and now sleeps in our bedroom at night. She will let me pet her in the bedroom and even come up to me with a tail wag, but outside during the day it's a different story.

She is tremendously storm phobic. Last weekend Laureen was out of town at an equestrian event so I had "kid duty" for all of the critters. I put all of the dogs out in our fenced yard Saturday morning while I started preparing their breakfast, and then heard thunder in the distance. By the time I got to the back door to bring them all in Envy had bolted through the electric fence and took off down the back trail in the opposite direction of the thunder. About that time I got an alert from the GPS collar that she had left the house and barn area.

Over an hour later chasing her down and fortunately a neighbor a mile and a half down the road was able to corral her into his shop. She has a GPS collar and I was only a few minutes behind her, but every time thunder would sound in the distance she would change direction to run away from it. She (and I) must have run close to three miles with all of the zig-zagging back and forth. At least it looks like her new "false hip joint" is sound.

Thank God for compassionate neighbors and GPS collars!

Once I got the storm meds into her she was OK the rest of the weekend. Sure gave me a scare though.
 
Unfortunately Scott, My sister took a trip up to Lake Placid this summer. During the summer festivities, fireworks in the distance spooked their dog like Thunder does. She took off. They searched for hours, posted on local FB pages.

They got a call 36 hours later from a 20 year old informing that he had hit their dog with his car. He was remorseful about it and apologetic. They understood and were devastated, but thankful that he had the heart to call them after seeing their FB posts on local pound pages so they could have closure.

Dogs just do what they do when frightened and sometimes the comfort of their home and loved ones do not ease them back into reality.
 
Chriselalto said:
Unfortunately Scott, My sister took a trip up to Lake Placid this summer. During the summer festivities, fireworks in the distance spooked their dog like Thunder does. She took off. They searched for hours, posted on local FB pages.

They got a call 36 hours later from a 20 year old informing that he had hit their dog with his car. He was remorseful about it and apologetic. They understood and were devastated, but thankful that he had the heart to call them after seeing their FB posts on local pound pages so they could have closure.

Dogs just do what they do when frightened and sometimes the comfort of their home and loved ones do not ease them back into reality.
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We're pretty sure that the reason that she was injured in the first place is that she was spooked by 4th of July fireworks. She was picked up by Animal Control on 7/7 with the broken leg and displaced hip.

My condolences to your sister. Sure hurts to lose one.
 
If you are interested in working on thunder spooking I had luck get pups use to thunder using a YouTube video on my Smart TV that I also use as white noise for me going to sleep. I put it on very low (and the rain even muffles it a little), just noticeable to the pup, and leave it going all day. Every so often I bump it up 1 level with me there with them and after a few minutes they kinda forget about it so I leave them again … repeat this for a week or so gradually increasing the volume and most become more accustom to it. It does not work for sharp near by “strikes” but distant to medium rumbling is made to be tolerable.

 
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ProfMagoo(ret) said:
Just thought to ask how things are going with Envy.
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Thanks for asking (and sorry for the delayed response - I've been out of state).

Health wise, Envy is doing well. She goes out with all the other animals every day and plays up a storm. She's been coming around to me as well and I can now pet her inside the house. Outside she's still a bit standoffish but not as bad as a few weeks ago. When Laureen was out of town doing volunteer veterinary work on the Zuni Indian Reservation we bonded even more, and she allowed me to pick her up and put her in and out of one of the trucks. All in all great progress!

(Edited to add that Envy came up to me in the back yard tonight when I called her!)

Unfortunately we've been having a problem with our Mal/GSD cross being mean to her (they've gotten into a couple of fights), and are currently working to sort that out. All in all she has been a good save, and has recovered well from the surgery.

Here is a video of Envy, Maya and Kinjie (all rescues) out on a trail ride with Laureen last week.



Many thanks to all who have followed her plight and recovery, and contributed. It truly made a difference.

Scott
 
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Thank you for the update! We are still here! Somtimes the lack of replies may make it look otherwise but we still are.
 
Thanks for the enquiries!

Envy has pretty much fully recovered physically. She's out with the other dogs on a daily basis, and has gotten to the point where she will come up to me outside and let me pet her. She is still a bit skittish around new people, but comes around more quickly than before. She'll come right up to me at night and in the morning in the bedroom for some loving. She will let me pick her up and place her in the truck to "go for a ride" here on the farm or into town.

She loves to run and play with the other dogs, but not much with people yet. I've slowly been working with her on fetch and tug-of-war. We're considering sending her to a trainer for a week to help her play more and be more comfortable around people and dogs.

We've been thinking of looking for a permanent home for her. With 6 dogs currently, we don't have "much room at the inn" for the next foster, and placing her in a good home (single pet or maybe two) would probably be in her best long term interest. We've seen zero aggression from her towards people or kids, but she will chase a cat if left unsupervised. It will be hard to see her go, but Laureen and I both think that she will do better in a home with less animals and less competition for attention. She would probably be a great pet for a single woman that had one other dog, or an older "stay at home" individual.

Here is a pic of her playing with Kenji and Maya last week on the back of one of my trailers.

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It's been a while since I've updated this thread. Envy continues to do well. She still barks too much when she's startled, but we're working on that. Here is a video from earlier today of her playing tug-a-war with one of our other dogs.



She's able to jump up on the bed by herself, and seems to have fully recovered from her ordeal last year.
 
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