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From the owner of Diogee, now Gunner, an awesome update:



Dear Toronto Animal Services, James, Fred, and everyone at your west and south locations.

We can't thank you enough for taking care of our dogs during their time at Animal Services - they each had about a month in your care, and they were clearly treated very kindly.

Nearly two years ago, we had the luck of finding our dear sweet Pilot at Toronto Animal Services West. It was a rainy soggy day and after visiting two other shelters, we met "Sweetpea", a large mixsomething who was running around in the yard with some of the other dogs. Three minutes in the hallway with her, and we knew she was our family. She came home with us as Pilot that day, and we all had a good laugh, two adults trying to cajole a seventy pound dog into the backseat of a hatchback. The woman who had been helping us told me "oh you are taking home a really really good dog". At the time I had no idea how right she was.

As time passed, our family went camping, and to the beach, and met lots of friends at the dog park. Pilot has two beds and blankets embroidered with her name. The house didn't get any bigger, but we knew that eventually we would find Pilot a little brother.

Our funny little Gunner came from Animal Services South. I first saw him on Fred's "pound dog" blog, as "Diogee the Beagle" and fell in love with his little face. James introduced me to him, and he was everything I imagined. (Ok, he peed on the floor, and spent most of our time together jumping on me, but he was a happy little sweet dog.) We brought Pilot to meet him, and they got along better than we could have hoped for, sealing the deal. Diogee came home with us that day, and found his new name Gunner. I'd never had a dog sit on my lap before, let alone in the car. Our two dogs are very different, but together they make a great pair.

Gunner has acquired a few blankets and beds of his own, and has settled in very well. He dislikes the cold, but loves eating snow.

Pilot has had some yeasty ear flare-ups, but with a bit of drops and changing her food, they don't bother her as much anymore. Gunner had a bit of an issue healing his stitches from being fixed, but our vet removed the last one, and he's healing up normally.

Thank you again.






6 Comments to “Update on Diogee”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Love updates! Bless you and thank you for adopting these two and giving them such a happy forever home. Love the names Pilot and Gunner, are you a military family?

  2. Unknown says:

    Such a lovely story ... and they lived happily ever after :-)

  3. Anonymous says:

    what lucky dogs!!!!!! So good to see them enjoying life again thanks to wonderful owners and Fred and TAS too!. That last photo says it all. Love all round! I like the names too and wonder what the story about the choice might be

  4. Anonymous says:

    Miss Pilot is named after a character from Farscape, and little Gunner is named after T.S Garp. Together, they do sounds like military names, but they're not really intended to. But they do have to work together! (From their family.)

  5. Anonymous says:

    I come back to this post sometimes. Pilot and Gunner are both doing well. Pilot is now twelve, and Gunner ten. They're the best family we could have ever asked for. (From their family.)

  6. Fred says:

    Thanks for the update! Happy 10th year adoption anniversary.

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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