COLS, OH: 10 year old, blind American Brittany Spaniel Mix DESPERATELY needing a Home!

Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~

 

Mary Herbeck has an immediate need to place this handsome guy ASAP (please read her heartfelt story below).   If you or someone you know would prove to be a good fit for Tuffie, please contact Mary at 614-564-3378 or mherbeck@checkfree.com.

Thanks for your kind consideration.

 

Mary O'Connor-Shaver

Columbus Top Dogs (Shure Pets)

www.columbustopdogs.com

Blind dog in desparate need:

Tuffie, a 10 year old blind american  brittany spaniel mix, is in desparate need of help.  I have taken him in as a foster after the nursing home he was living in threatened to put him to sleep.  Unfortunately, he is not doing well here and we need to find him a home with no other dogs.  Here is his history - can you please help him?

Abandoned by his owner at a shelter when he was 7 years old and just going blind, he was not doing well with the other dogs at the shelter.  He is an aggressive alpha dog around other animals and after a few months at the shelter was sent to a foster home.  I don't know what happened in that home, but he was there for 10 months before being adopted to a nursing home as a companion for the residents.  He was at the nursing home for 3 months when they threatened to put him to sleep because he was bumping into residents due to his blindness and tripping them.  His original rescue refused to take him back.  At that point I was told that he was a loving calm dog who was 7 years old and had been living in a permanent home.  

 

Given that info, I thought he would fit in well here and agreed to take him in as a foster.  From that point, he was in 4 different temporary homes in one week before coming to me.   Arriving here he was completely terrified and very aggressive with  my dogs.  I kept him separated from my dogs while trying to get him calm and situated.  He was more like a shelter dog when I got him.  I took him to my vet and found that he was 10 and not 7, that he was allergic to the eye drops he had been getting for months, he had infections in both eyes, is at least 20 pounds overweight, arthritic, and in need of constant drops.  

 

Now that he has stabilized, he looks a lot better and is feeling healthier. Once he was comfortable with me and my husband, re-introduced him to our larger dog outside in a neutral environment. He snapped at him but seemed to settle down.  Later, he got too close again and went after our larger dog.  My husband tried to separate them and Tuffie bit my husband really badly.  He is not a dog that can be around other dogs, and cannot be around our small Pomeranian as he could kill her accidntally.   He is very loving and sweet with people though and wants to be with you constantly.  He LOVES to walk and with the combination of diet food and no more people food, he should be much healthier quickly.  Due to his blindness, he has separation anxiety when you leave him - this is making his current environment detrimental to him as we have to keep him separate from our living environment with our dogs.

Can someone please foster this dog?  He deserves better than the life he has been given.  Based on his aggressiveness in our house, he will need to be moved to another home ASAP.   If we are unable to relocate him to a safer place by April 30, we will have to place him with our local shelter. 

 

Please, can you assist us in this effort?  Tuffie deserves much better than what we are able to offer as foster parents...

 
Mary Herbeck
Product Delivery Manager - Senior
mherbeck@checkfree.com
Phone: 614-564-3378