OSCAR
Sex/colour: male blue (rough coated)
D.O.B: estimated 2014 to 2015
Breed: Lurcher poss Greyhound Border Collie Saluki mix
Came to AfG: June 2018
OSCAR (was originally named Soli by AfG as he came into our care on the
Summer solstice).
A lady who had often seen this poor hound sad, neglected and suffering,
chained up in a ramshackle building and kept on a chain, was very upset
and concerned about his welfare and safety.
She kept an eye on him and soon realised that was where his was kept day
and night in all weathers.
She finally approached the ‘owner’ who exclaimed, he was given the dog
as a youngster and he was no good for anything, he told the lady “you
can have him if you want him”.
The lady contacted other rescues who said they could not take him,then
contacted AfG and sent us a photo, so of course we were also more than
concerned and as we had a suitable foster home, we asked her if she
would arrange to pick him up as soon as possible.
Were it not for the kindness and perseverance of this lady, it would be
unthinkable to imagine what his lifeand his fate would have been.
Photos at the very bottom of the photos below, show the state of poor
Oscar, 50% hair loss over his body, sunburnt/frost bitten ears because
of being exposed to extreme weather conditions, dry, sore itchy skin,
decayed and broken teeth,external and internal parasites, overgrown
nails, fearful of the outside world.
We knew it would be months of tender care and gentle exposure to the
outside world with careful socialising for dear Oscar.
Once treated for internal parasites and a soothing bath with creme
massaged into the sore dry areas. then treated for external parasites,
dear Oscar was already looking happier.
A check up with the vets followed.
The vet agreed with all the reasons above which had caused his long term
state of neglect, suffering and cruelty he had been exposed to.
From what the lady who rescued Oscar was told and if correct, we
estimated he was born around 2014/15 but our vet couldnt really judge an
exact age because of his lack of care when so young and broken teeth (
possibly caused by chewing from hours of boredom), he may have been older!.
Later he was neutered.
His foster home cared for him very well in the weeks which followed but
from the start could only commit to short term emergency foster but did
a great job with him.
Oscar then went to his long term foster home with Jack, a kind gentle
man who had fostered for AfG several times, so was well aware of how to
progress with Oscars recovery.
Jack had AfG hound Oci ( see Oci ‘dogs homed:Other Breeds’) so ideal for
Oscar to have the company of a calm,friendly confident hound.
Oscar slowly improved and after some time, he accompanied us on several
events, gaining new experiences, meeting people and other dogs.
Jack was able to exercise Oscar with Oci on a large enclosed park daily
and he occasionally enjoyed a run on the beach.
Oscar would always be ‘a work in progress’ due to the terrible life he
had suffered.
A young Sighthound chained up, tormented by cats and humans without
being able to defend himself, is purely unimaginable.
So it was not until just over 1 year later when Oscar found his forever
home.
This was due to him accompanying AfG on our regular charity stall, a
family were visiting Norwich that day and met Oscar on the stall.
They adored him and asked if they could be considered to adopt him, they
had always had 2 dogs and had recently lost one, with their Bedlington
cross female feeling alone and sad.
So a home check was carried out, all went well and a week later, Oscar
settled into his new home.
Again, he had to get used to a new environment and the new adopters were
given all information about how Oscar had suffered before he came to AfG
so they were very aware that he may still experience some behavioural
issues but they were still keen to give him the love, time,care and
respect he needed.
We were happy to receive regular updates on Oscar and sometime later we
did a follow up check and were so happy to see his mental and physical
health had improved even more.
He waited and suffered for so long to finally find the great life he
deserved.
