Bertha

I honestly can't say enough good things about Miss Bertha. We will start with how she came in to rescue. Bertha wandered up to someone's house late one night and set up camp on their back porch. They posted her on a Facebook page that same night, trying to give her away, because they aren't dog people and didn't want her hanging around. Because she is an English Bulldog, many people were commenting on the post, trying to take her. We thought surely someone would be looking for her, so we offered to take her into rescue and hold her, to give an owner a chance to claim her, and to prevent her falling into the wrong hands. Many people want this breed, but few are prepared to give them the kind of home they need. Others only want them to breed them because they think they will make some money doing so. Anyway, we got her the next morning and were shocked to find that she had a fairly fresh c-section incision, with sutures still there. She also had many scars, scrapes, abrasions, and what seemed like a million fleas and ticks. She is also head shy, which doesn't always mean abuse, but often (not always) does mean that a dog has been hit. We've had her for about a month now and we've never found her owner. We weren't sure if she had been spayed when the c-section was done, so we took her for an ultrasound this week and found that she had not been spayed. That will be done on Monday. We have a feeling that this little girl was used for breeding and when she required a c-section (as most English Bulldogs do) she was turned out and no longer wanted. No one has made any posts looking for her, and no one has come forward to claim her. A few days after she got here, we took in a 3 wk old orphan puppy, and Bertha has been the surrogate mother to her. Although she has no milk to nurse her, she has cuddled her, cleaned and consoled her, even allowing her the comfort of "latching on" to calm her when she cries. If that doesn't melt your heart, you are dead inside! (See last photo for a serotonin boost). Since we've had her here, we've learned a lot about her. The thing that sticks out the most is that she wants 2 things in life: cuddles and food- in that order! She is one of the most affectionate dogs I've ever known. It's hard to get photos of her because she is glued to me and won't get far enough away for a decent photo. That's the kind of dog she is- velcro. She is struggling a bit with housetraining. But honestly, I believe that's because we have so many dogs here and we just aren't fast enough to get her outside. She would probably do better in a home that is less chaotic, in regards to housetraining. Bertha is excellent with other dogs and has very good doggy manners. She is submissive with everyone here. She is a dream on leash walks. She stays right at my side and doesn't pull at all.

Bertha does have a couple of challenges. She is food protective with other dogs. She will allow people to pet her and even put a hand in her food bowl, but won't share food with other dogs. We feed her separately, in her crate to avoid issues with that. She is also crate protective. She will bark viciously in her crate, but when you open the crate she is back to her normal, sweet self. She would probably do better with being gated off in a room/space, rather than being crated. But here, crating is the only option with all the dogs we have, so we are making do and hope this wont deter a good adopter. She would be a wonderful dog in a home with kids because she is extremely gentle, but kids would definitely need to know if she is crated to not put their fingers in the crate. I don't know if she would bite fingers when in crate protective mode, but I wouldn't want to put her in the position to find out. Other than the food/crate issue, she has the perfect personality. We think she's about 3 years old. She's had all of her routine vetting except spay, which will be done on 9/25. She longs for people of her own, to sit in laps, and cuddle with. I can't stress enough how affectionate she is. She is very short legged, and weighs about 35lbs.