Astro, Huntington, WV
My name is Astro! I lived in a very high kill shelter in NY from the time I was a puppy and stayed there for FOUR whole years.
In the shelter they used a rough prong collar on me because I am such a big boy (a whole 87lbs!) and I became so cage crazy and nervous that I began eating the wall beside my kennel and spinning in circles in my cage. š
The staff was nice to me, but they weren’t my family. Thankfully, my Auntie Nichole from Road to Home Rescue Support whisked me away to get me the help that I needed and the family that I wanted so badly.
After my Auntie Nichole got me out of the shelter, I was taken to a boarding facility at a vets office where I was out on doggy Prozac for my anxiety and wall-eating skills. I finally went to the first family that I thought was mine…but they returned me within about a week. They said that I was crazy and dog aggressive. I also supposedly ate a couch or something.
I then went back to boarding for a while…where somehow my medication got mixed up and they ended up giving me double the dosage of Prozac that I was supposed to receive. That caused even more problems with my behavior.
I went to a second family in Chicago this time…but was returned again, and then a third family in Virginia…but…that one didn’t work out either. š
The boarding facility forgot to send my medication with me to the last family and so I went from being on double the dose of Prozac to no Prozac at all which really messed me up. Those two families claimed that I was a bad dog… Yet again that I was dog aggressive, destructive, would try to bite and mouth, that I had issues that couldn’t be fixed and that no one could handle me.
Auntie Nichole then reached out to my good friend Lilly the Hero Pit Bull and her Auntie Lindsay and dad David decided to post me on her Facebook page to try to find me another home.
Auntie Lindsay was then contacted by my (now) mom Desiree, the director of Pitiful Paws Rescue. Auntie Lindsay was friends with mom already and knew that it would be a good fit, so she put mom in contact with Auntie Nicole!
Mom said that her rescue would take me in and try to place me locally. At this point I was still in VA and WV is much closer than sending me all the way back to NY.
So, mom and my Uncle Brad met my previous parents a few days later and brought me home! After just a week or two, mom decided that I wouldn’t be adopted out because she wanted to adopt me herself! š
On July 7th, 2014, I officially became part of my forever family. Mom says that those other families told lies on me or they just didn’t know how to handle me. I am not dog aggressive (I have a ton of friends now), I am not destructive (although I will carry around your shoes for you), and I am not a bad dog.
I am a good dog that needed someone to love me. I am a good dog that is now off of Prozac completely and have been for over a month now.
I am a smart dog that graduated obedience training from Petco. I have a loving family, a best friend pibble named Ember, I have over 1,000 friends on my Facebook page and I love my family as much as they love me.
I’m glad that those other families didn’t work out because now I am right where I belong.
Thanks for reading my story!
Astro
Parent: Desiree