Alex came to me as a rescue when she was about
11 weeks old. She was born in a shed and had not been outside of it until she
was given away because her foot had been "crushed or something" and
the person who owned the litter knew she wouldn't get any money for her. The
rest of the litter died. It was Alex's bad foot that saved her.
Alex was taken to a veterinarian who discovered
her foot was deformed rather than injured. She was also malnourished, worm infested
and her tail had to be re-docked because the original docking was not performed
properly. I took her with the idea of placing her but her bad foot, poor temperament
and lack of early socialization made me concerned about finding her a suitable
home. For months she became frantic every time she was confined and was difficult
to housetrain because she had spent the first weeks of her life in filth. In
spite of all this Alex was a sweet, playful puppy. It wasn't long before I decided
to keep her.
While my previous three Dobes had wonderful temperaments,
Alex taught me about shyness and fear. She was suspicious of most people and
terrified of children which made her act very aggressively towards them. It
took several years for Alex and I to work through her various problems. By the
time she was three years old she was my demonstration dog for my obedience classes,
a role she really enjoyed. While I always took care when introducing her to
new people, Alex was affectionate with those patient enough to win her trust
and devoted to those she called her friends.
Alex died in August 2003 at age 10. I miss
her greatly.
Click on the squirrels below
to visit Alex's pages.
Puppy
Pictures 