Madden

Finally safe and cared for

Final Refuge

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Please note: The dogs in ODH's Final Refuge care are not adoptable due to medical reasons and all are in permanent homes. Your sponsorship supports the veterinary expenses for these dogs - and we thank you!

Madden, whose full name is Mad Dog Madden McBad’un, is a very busy, very young old pup. Supposedly he is a black lab mix. More likely he’s a cattle dog/rat terrier/sheltie mix who happens to be black. He is also supposedly about 12 years old, but this boy he acts much more like 8.

Madden came to ODH and me from a shelter foster home, where he’d been placed after a couple of frantic weeks in the shelter. Once home he had a dental to pull several chipped and cracked teeth, probably damaged by chewing on metal crates. He also had a round cell tumor removed from his right knee and ginormous dew claws removed from both hind legs.

His left hind leg is pretty funky. His right hind at least looks normal but suffers from the same functional problems as the left. Still, nothing slows this guy down, and if he limps a bit after a hard day herding balls and rubber bones and squirrels and the cat, well, it’s a price he’s happy to pay.

It’s taken awhile for this old mutt to feel safe in his new home, and there is still an occasional evening when he chooses to sulk by himself out in the living room rather than sleep with me and his pack mate. But given patience, forgiveness, and acceptance, he is I think, pretty darn sure that he is finally and forever home.

Madden update:
Patience, forgiveness and acceptance finally convinced this little rascal that he is home at last. He’s been with Willow and me a year now, long enough to earn several nicknames: Mad Dog, Mad Hatter, Black Snapper, Big Chief Little Shit. He no longer needs a crate to feel safe. He sleeps with us through the night, no more sulking off to the living room. He’s had two more dentals but no major health issues. He’s cray-cray-crazy for fetch, and most every night I toss his orange dinosaur for him until he cries “Uncle!” after about 40 throws. He also loves walks, car rides, and peanut butter kongs. At meal times he chirps and moans and dances. I have never had an old pup with as much energy and enthusiasm as Madden. Many days I wish I were 10 years younger to better keep up with him. Madden will be forever young, no doubt about it.

 

 

Madden is sponsored by:

  • Northwest K9 Sniffers Club of Issaquah, WA