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Olivia’s Story Part One: Her Road to Rescue and Her Human Helpers Along the Way

8/26/2011

6 Comments

 
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This August 5th was Olivia’s Adoption Day. The day we took hold of her leash and walked her into our home. Her birthday and age is only an educated guess. She was one or two years old when she was picked up as a stray in Round Rock, suburb of Austin, Texas and brought to Town Lake Animal Center (TLAC).  In 2007, TLAC had a three day hold policy, Olivia was given her three days, waiting for an owner to claim her, after that she was scheduled to undergo euthanasia. The first photo I have of our Olivia was taken of her in her cage at the shelter, she was sitting next to a pail of water looking up at  the camera. She was given the required shots, an ID number and a small chance to live.


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Lucky for her, the staff thought she was a sweet girl and alerted one of the rescue volunteers. These volunteers have taken on the unenviable task of visiting the dog shelter to look for dogs that they can “pull” and bring into a foster program. Many of the dogs won’t be saved and this is their last chance. Olivia’s road to life started with Coonhound Companions member Jerry Dunham. Coonhounds are one of the many breeds that he helps save.

He knows his hounds and was surprised that he had missed her on his recent visit, but when he approached her cage he could see why. She was curled up in a tight ball at the back of cage. He said “she looked liked she had given up”. To this day, when Olivia feels stressed, I find her in her bed, curled so tight that I can’t lift her paw. We call it her “coonhound lockdown” time.

Many phone calls and juggling of schedules later he found a foster home for her. He was allowed to pull her under the auspices of The Texas Alaskan Malamute Rescue. Our little underweight, scared black and tan coonhound went to Lynn, who fosters Mals but found room in her busy life and home for Olivia.


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I later found out that the very pink slippers that can be seen on Olivia’s Pet Finder page were Lynn’s.

Olivia went from a being a hungry, injured stray, surviving on the streets by herself to being given a second chance and what may have been her very first name ever, “Scout”.

She was put up for adoption on Pet Finder and the American Black and Tan Coonhound Rescue’s site, I first saw her picture there.

Lynn was the first to notice that Olivia was showing signs of being very sick and alerted Jerry. He contacted a local vet that would do pro-bono work of rescue dogs to see if she would take a look at Olivia. “Scout's” survival was in question.  She came out of the shelter with a nasty kennel cough that quickly turned into double pneumonia.  It was touch and go for several days, but she pulled through and we are grateful to vets like Dr. Culp that donate their time to rescue dogs.


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Before adopting Olivia I wanted to know more about her. My dogs had always been six to eight weeks old when I got them and I wanted to know what I could expect with a full grown dog. Jerry answered every question I emailed him and if he didn’t know, he put me in contact with someone that did. This was my first experience adopting a dog and I had some trepidation, but I had made the decision to “walk the talk” and adopt a dog from a shelter. The commitment and support of these rescue workers sharing their stories about coonhound behavior, and what I could expect when I brought her into our home sealed the deal for us. I said yes. We’ll take her!


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Foster mom Lynn, says good bye to a now healthy Scott!

My current work with Coonhound Companions is my way of “paying it forward” - repaying the support and help I received, and continue to receive, for my Olivia from the dog rescue community. Many coonhound owners have begun to share their coonhound stories on our Coonhound Companions Facebook Page, and follow our Long Ears Blog on our CoonhoundCompanions.com website.

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 Anyone can help save a life by simply going to www.coonhoundcompanions.com, click on Poster & More and download the free PDF’s of posters and promotion kits. Pass the link onto a friend, your local shelter or rescue group. Every “like”, comment, and download is helping save a coonhound life and better the understanding of this oft-misunderstood breed.

The life I helped save was Olivia’s. On August 5, 2006 my husband and I met the transport driver Norm, in our local park. We signed some paper work and took her leash from him.  My life changed immediately. I was once considered the consummate dog person, but I soon discovered that I knew little about how to handle this neglected, fearful canine.

Olivia: “The Cautious Canine”.

What’s going to be title of Olivia’s Story, part two?  “She Exhausts Me.”



6 Comments
Debbie
8/26/2011 11:30:00 pm

Lucky Olivia to have found such a wonderful home with you!

Reply
poppy
8/27/2011 01:33:31 am

Lucky dog!!! Lucky You!

Reply
Jill link
8/27/2011 01:47:34 pm

So sweet - can't wait for part 2! xo

Reply
Jerry Dunham link
9/16/2011 09:44:32 am

Just to clarify: The second picture above is the one that came from the shelter (TLAC).

That's not how she looked the day I discovered her. I'd walked all the runs, looking for possible hounds, and had missed her. A shelter staff member led me back to her, telling me how worried she was about the depressed coonhound. I found her curled in a tight ball, in the far corner of her run, an unidentifiable black blob in the dim light, refusing to respond to human voice. She'd pretty much given up.

Scout, as the shelter called her, went from weeks as a stray, to depression in the shelter, to weeks of pneumonia in a foster home. It was not an auspicious start, but with wonderful support from Lynn (her foster mom), and Dr. Culp, she pulled through, and with the help of American Black & Tan Coonhound Rescue found the best possible forever home.

It's the sort of fairy-tale ending that we wish for all of our lost, abused or neglected hounds. Someday, with the help of our wonderful readers, we may achieve that.

--
Jerry Dunham
Volunteer, American Black & Tan Coonhound Rescue

Reply
Lynn Jeffery
9/28/2011 10:55:50 am

Olivia has come a long way, thanks to you and Steve. Good story!

Reply
Kim
3/1/2019 10:46:22 pm

Hello, My husband and I adopted a Black and Tan coonhound almost a year ago. She came from a wonderful animal sanctuary. Our Bella is s little over a year old and she has been a sweet girl, but chews and tears up everything in her path and our fenced in back yard has so many holes in it now. My husband is frustrated with her, but I don’t want to get up on her. I know if we took her back she would be well taken care of but she may bounce from one family to the next because of her hound behaviors. I know she is bored, therefore she gets into these destructive behaviors. She wants to work! We live in the city and she only really gets our backyard exercise. Any suggestions, I feel heartbroken because I don’t want to give up on her.Thanks in advance!

Reply



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