At First Sight

THE BEGINNING

Hello, my name is Rick. I'll start by saying I'm new to blogging. I've always wanted to start a blog and talk about all the crazy things that run through my head on a daily basis but I could never hone it down to just one topic. Today I found that one topic, that one story, that needs to be told.

This journey with UNDERDOG ANIMAL RESCUE started a few years ago. To be exact it was the beginning of July 2017 when my wife asked me if we could foster two pittie puppies. At the time we already had our own three dogs, a toddler, my job and a pretty active social life. To be honest, I was cool with it. I just reminded my wife that the bulk of the duties of caring for the pups would be on her since she was home during the day. On July 3rd of that year she went and picked up four pit bull puppies that were rescued from the porch of a home about an hour and a half drive from our place. We ended up only fostering two, and the other two went to another foster home, but that was the start of our  three year journey into the world of dog rescue. Since that fateful day, we have had 28 different foster dogs pass though the doors and beds of our home. Some for months, other for days, one senior that stayed with us through his last days.

Rescue is hard work and my wonderful wife is a saint for how well she handles it all. I get to retreat to work during the week but she is here, feeding, bathing, and  cleaning messes from not only the dog but also our two kids. With that said, rescue is also a lot of fun and extremely rewarding. You get to hang out with and train a new dog all the time. You get to love on and cuddle with a new dog all the time, and if the dog has some quirks that are hard to get through, it isn't permanent. And there's nothing like sending that dog off to its permanent home, to live and be loved for the rest of their days.

We have had our fair share of sad cases. We've taken in Kennel Cough cases, malnourished cases, we even took in a 17 year old beagle that was deaf, lumpy, and had no teeth. Nothing prepared us for what was next...


 THE FACE OF RESCUE

I have had a special place in my heart for every dog that has come into our home but none have really made me tear up just looking at them. Maybe we are just lucky but these dogs bring a smile to my face. Some are sad but we try to do our part, and my mindset has always been that we are just a stop, don't get too attached.

Today was the day that changed. Today I realized we can be much more than just a random stop in the life of a four-legged creature. This is The Face Of Rescue....

Meet Sherman!!!! This boy has pulled at my heartstrings more in the last 5 hours than any other dog we've had. He's crusty, stinky, skin and bones, and he has no reason at all to trust humans. Someone let him get this way and I'm here to tell the story he can't!!!


SHERMAN'S BACKGROUND (as far as we know)

Basically all we know about this pup is that he has the worst case of Demodectic Mange any of us have ever seen, he's a sack of skin and bones (more on that in the future), he's got a cherry eye, and he was confiscated from a person in the Sacramento area.

He was brought to Front Street Animal Shelter with a female that wasn't in nearly as bad a shape as he is. Underdog Animal Rescue pulled both from the shelter, and we got Sherman.

Stay tuned for the story on this incredible pup and his rehab from Frankenstein back to, well.... I guess we'll find out together!