Traumatized puppy likely was dumped in Everett yard

By Cathy Logg

Herald Writer

ARLINGTON — He doesn’t have a name, and still has his baby teeth, but the little fellow can be pretty ferocious.

And terrified. The sight of a leash makes the puppy "just go bonkers," said Brian Berg, a volunteer with WingOver Farm animal sanctuary near Arlington who rescued the abused dog Saturday night from a fenced yard in Everett where someone had abandoned him.

It appeared the puppy had been dragged down the street with a leash, Berg said. Only the puppy isn’t trained to walk on a leash and apparently wasn’t cooperative. Berg is convinced that someone most likely bought the dog as a Christmas present, but the owner either didn’t want it or got tired of it.

"This little dog was just such a sad case," he said. "When they buy an animal as a gift for somebody, that’s the worst thing they can do unless it’s wanted. We’ve got so many chickens and roosters and geese that came from Easter gifts. He looks like something out of a pet store. He’s just cute as a bug’s ear, and he was absolutely traumatized."

The puppy, which weighs about 2 1/2pounds and is probably about 4 months old, appears to be a Dachshund-Chihuahua mix, he said.

Greta Poor, owner of the yard in the 2300 block of California Street in Everett, had taken her own dog out for a walk just before dark. They strolled out the front gate and took about three steps when she saw the puppy shivering against a tree. She immediately went to rescue it.

"He just completely turned into a wild dog," she said. "He started barking and growling and biting at the air. He didn’t want me near him. I figured he was just scared to death."

She sat in the yard for hours, talking to the puppy and trying to gain his trust, but the little fellow wasn’t buying her sweet talk. She put out a box with rags inside, fearing he would freeze to death. She also feared an animal shelter would euthanize the dog because it was acting so vicious.

Finally, she called the Arlington-area animal rescue farm and Berg responded. A devoted animal lover, Berg had to don elbow-length welding gloves to protect himself as he picked up the puppy.

"At first, I could see he wasn’t biting (Berg), he was barking and butting his nose up against him, like, ‘Go away! Go away! I don’t want to bite you,’" Poor said.

Berg cradled the puppy against his body and "it was just screaming," she said.

"I was saying, ‘It’s OK, baby.’ The minute I said that, he just stopped screaming and completely relaxed. It was kind of pathetic. What in the world could someone have done to him to make him like that?"

Within 20 minutes, the puppy "was like a little pussy cat," Poor said. "He just melted. He was just relaxed, once he realized no one was there to hurt him."

"It was a man that did this to him," Berg surmised. "You can tell by the way he acted with me. He acts better with women. We almost thought the dog was stolen."

Now, just the sight of a leash sends the puppy into a frenzy, he said.

"It’s a real good reason for somebody not to buy pets unless they know someone really loves pets and wants them. Just buying one at random because they’re the cutesy ones in the window isn’t enough. It’s not like buying a basketball or a pair of shoes. People buy pets at Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and then get tired of them. I’ll bet 80 percent of them wind up in shelters. … But they’re living, breathing, feeling creatures," Berg said.

Abandonment isn’t the way to get rid of an unwanted pet, he added.

This puppy is trainable, but hasn’t been housebroken, Berg said.

"He’s been mistreated really bad," he said. "Once, while he was sleeping, I tried to pet him. He woke up and became ferocious. He doesn’t know anything. And you can’t put him on a leash, the way he’s been brutalized. I wish the little dog could talk. But by his body language, he’s told us plenty."

The puppy is adoptable to a good home, Berg said. For information, call 360-403-8248. The nonprofit animal sanctuary is funded by donations.

You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437

or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.