TOBY
Sex/colour: Male White with blue patches (Rough coated)
D.O.B: estimated as 1998
Breed: Lurcher poss Greyhound or Whippet – Border Collie mix
Came to AfG: April 2004
TOBY was a sorrowful hound when he came to AfG.
We were contacted by a rescue center who had taken in a female Lurcher,
the person who they collected her from said she had removed her from
another family members house as the Lurcher was in her menstrual cycle,
she was afraid she would be bred from.
The lady told the rescue, although they were her family, she admitted
they bred dogs to sell and abused their dogs.
The rescue passed a contact for the lady to AfG.
We met her, she explained her concerns and gave us the details of where
this family lived.
What we heard was of great concern, as at least one adult in the family
had a criminal record for various crimes including GBH!.
We were very concerned by what we had been told, so decided to just call
round to the address unannounced.
We were met with a dysfunctional family, in a house and garden littered
with rubbish and filthy.
We were there out of concern of what we had been told about the dogs.
We saw 2 Lurchers in the property.
The family admitted they did not want them and said they were the only
animals they had.
So as we had the chance and a suitiable foster home for one and a
adopter with another rescue for the other, we decided to waste no time
having both Lurchers signed over to AfG (as we had taken the precaution
of taking relevant sign over forms with us).
We were told the male Lurcher (who we named Toby) was around age 7
years, the female Lurcher was his daughter age about 3 or 4 years
(neither were neutered or had ever seen a vet).
Toby was noticeably stiff and lame on his back end, when we asked if he
had an accident of some sort, one family member said one story with
another laughingly stating he had fell out of the upstairs window.
Whatever the reason, we could not change any abuse either hound had
endured, we were just happy to be able to remove both from squalor and
neglect.
Both hounds were malnourished, timid and filthy.
We were able to sign the female over to another rescue and she was soon
settled straight into her forever home, with Toby going into one of our
foster homes.
Once checked by our vet, she did establish Toby was stiff and had pain
especially in his pelvic area, she hoped with pain relief, nourishing
meals and a clean comfortable home environment, his condition would
improve and once he gained weight and overall condition, plans would be
made to neuter and xray him.
After settling into his foster home with the company of other Quiet
hounds, Toby started to come out of his shell.
It took some time for him to realise he could approach his foster carers
for attention and once he realised they would show him nothing but
gentleness, he slowly improved.
Once Toby had time to settle into a caring home life in foster care, he
got his forever home.
We always believed he was much older than age 7 years but as he had
obviously been so neglected it was hard to determine.
Being surrounded by un neutered females, we imagine the hounds were left
to their own devices to proceed with mating (this may have been another
reason why Toby had pain around his pelvic and pubic areas).
Once in his forever home and because of his age and health issues, AfG
decided Toby could be homed as a permanent foster, with AfG paying
towards any vet fees and other care needed.
Toby continued to be so loved and cared for in his senior years and
slowly recovered physically and mentally.
We hope he managed to put his previous life behind him and realise he
would never be abused again.
We did put in a report to the local council ( as the house the 2
Lurchers were taken from was rented from the council).
We also put in a complaint to the RSPCA including the proof of neglect
we had from the two Lurchers signed over.
We do not no if either or any of them did any animal welfare checks or
took any action.
Photo below shows Toby on the day of his rescue.
