STARSKY
Sex/colour: Male black and tan
D.O.B: approx 2005/2006
Breed: Rottweiler
Came to AfG: January 2009
STARSKY ( previously named STAN by AfG) came into our care from a stray
kennels, estimated to be age 3 to 4 years.
We collected an unclaimed Greyhound (see: JANI) once her statutory 8
days had ended and spotted this poor forlorn Rottweiler in a concrete
run, underweight,lame and stiff on his back end.
We inquired about him and were told he was an unclaimed stray who had
been with them over 30 days and as no rescues had shown any interest in
taking him, plans were made that at their next ‘open day’ he would be
offered out to a home ( this process did not include a homecheck or
neutering..just to free up space in the stray kennels).
The councils obligation was to only fund the care of the dogs for 8
days, not including parasite treatment, vaccinations or neutering and
the only kennel bedding provided were plastic beds with sheets of newspaper.
The kennels managed to keep some dogs after the 8 days to find rescue
spaces for them and some were homed to the public when shown at their
open days.
But because Starsky (and Jani) were not vaccinated they had to remain
in the basic stray kennel block with just a concrete run adjacent to the
kennel.
Starsky (along with Jani) were signed over to AfG who paid for both to
start their vaccination course with the visiting kennel vet and leave
them with soft bedding and coats, the next day we were able to place
them together in an excellent emergency boarding kennels in their
isolation block, until we could find suitable foster homes for them.
Luckily Starsky had already been neutered at some point in his life,
meaning he could stay with Jani in the kennel.
Here they had soft bedding, heated kennel and an outside paddock of
their own.
As AfG are more known to have Greyhounds and other Sighthounds in our
care, we immediately put out an alert for a suitable foster carer or
adopter for Starsky.
The most suitable applicant ‘who ticked all the right boxes’ was Mandy
from Northants Greyhound rescue.
So once the vaccinations were complete, both came out of kennels. ( as
Jani had also been found a foster home).
Mandy brought her family pets to Norwich to meet Starsky and all went
well so he was signed over to Mandy.
He quickly settled into his new home with rescued Greyhound, Lurcher and
female Rottweiler.
Mandy had an excellent vet who determined the stiffness around Starskys
pelvic region was not likely to be hip dysplasia (a common condition in
Rottweilers) but likely a hip shunt due to an old injury, with further
tests proving the latter.
So with the care of Mandy and her vet, the condition did improve.
It was great to receive updates from Mandy and see how quickly Starsky
had improved with proper care.
Gorgeous Starsky even won rosettes at dog shows.
Rottweilers are another miss understood breed and it is important they
are homed with people knowledgeable of the breed, so its great that dear
Starsky is such a great ambassador for the breed.
Later we were able to speak with the dog warden who originally picked
Starsky up from a 2nd floor flat in Cromer, after he had been contacted
by a single mother with a baby, claiming she had found him the previous
midnight, wandering in Morrisons supermarket car park!! a very unlikely
story of course, as mother with baby were unlikely to be in a car park
at midnight and then bring an unknown dog back to the flat!.
The dog warden told us, he was suspicious of the entire story as the dog
looked very settled in the flat on a large dog bad! but as he could not
disprove any information and it was obvious the woman couldnt cope with
a large dog, that she was just ‘ jumping the queue’ of getting him into
stray kennels and the dog warden thought it was best to take him to at
least give him a chance of later finding a good home.
Although difficult being prior to dog micro chipping becoming law,AfG
managed to find a contact for the woman, we said we had recently adopted
him and found her as his last owner, had she any background information
on him… we of course were unknowingly to her, given a true account,
that she had acquired ‘the dog’ from someone who no longer wanted him
and he had fallen to the road from her 2nd floor flat, he was in pain
but she could not afford to take him to the vet, no rescues could take
him so she took him to a stray kennels. (the latter of course being a lie)
We have no idea how or when Starsky was neutered, we can only surmise
he may have been adopted from a rescue and either sold on or stolen then
basically pushed from pillar to post.
