Rescue Journal

murphy comes home today

Carol  ·  Oct. 30, 2008

not that saints was ever his home, he never lived here, he was always in a foster or adoptive home. poor mo is so upset...he is a great dog, he found a great home where he was loved for the past couple of years...and then what?

shit happens. shit follows murph around in his life...it truly, truly sucks for him.

i first met him, several years ago. i was working and went to visit clients who were both dying of different cancers. after they signed him over to saints i asked mo to take care of getting him to the foster home etc because it was a conflict of interest for me. so mo who saw where he came from is as emotionally invested in murphy as me. she has followed him thru foster care, to this permanent home as this family kept in touch with her...she knows murphy much better than i do at this point...i just know his story, not the real dog inside.

so here is murphy's story...it is sad because it is full of dreams that never work out.
murphy was tied up in the carport, 24/7 with horrible bloody, itchy skin and caring owners who were just too sick to help or deal with him anymore. so they tied him up and left him to suffer when they became progressively sicker themselves.
we moved him into foster care and got his skin under control with special diet, meds and supplements. his first adoptive home, came with glowing references from another rescue. they switched his diet, he started tearing at himself, they called and asked permission to euthanize because somehow they had decided his problem was emotional. even the referring rescue person sent me a note saying it was cruel to keep a dog so emotionally tortured alive.

hmmm...the dog i knew was not emotionally tortured when he was given the right food and meds.
murph came back to his foster home and given his special diet, meds and supplements...his skin cleared up, he quit ripping himself apart and perfect home two appeared, fully committed to murph's ongoing care.

except...he has been having flare ups...i am told he is currently on prednisone. he is losing this home because he is peeing in the basement and on the wooden deck which he has not done before until now. they say, it is not working out and need to return him...adoption failure two...home failure number three.
hmmm....how long has he been on pred? does he have a bladder infection from prolonged steriod use? is he now diabetic? is he under undue stress because his inappropriate peeing is upsetting the humans there? whatever, the decision is made, murphy has been de-invested again.
mo and i decided...don't problem solve, don't try to convince them to work this out....arrange to have murph brought back asap and we will deal with whatever is happening here.

murphy has had enough homes that have fallen apart on him, no more fosters, no more adoptive homes...it is time for him to learn to live at saints and find his happiness here.

it will be hard for him but he will make the adjustment because he has to now just like everyone else. i may give them choices at saints, but the rest of the world does not.
and never, ever, ever again will that dog fail at having a home. saints might not be perfect, but it is forever, no matter what and we will do whatever we have to for murphy to finally and forever feel like he truly belongs.

it is ok murph...we promise, everything and anything for you no matter what.

Comments

Chris T

SAINTS may not be perfect but it is going to have to be perfect for Murphy. I hope it goes smoothly.

Mo

This has kept me up 2 nights in a row... his foster Mom is very sad also. I am not looking forward to his adjustment period... but I am looking forward to the time when he has adjusted & he , is part my gang that helps me do the barn and walk the fields. So I am focusing on what will be and the Murph & I can go through this together.

Cheryl

What a shame. I have had the pleasure of meeting Murphy when and I took the dogs for walks and she was tending to him at the time. He has the most wonderful disposition, very sweet not busy type lab and he is beautiful...he is still a young dog and this is sad that his current family is giving up on him also.
on that note we met someone at the vet last week who has kicked their 15 year old Shep X outside to live now since she peed 2 times in the house. She has always been an indoor dog.I explained there are meds for this and the husband nope his wife says OUTSIDE...brother. Hopefully the vet will convince them to give meds a try. Welcome to SAINTS Murphy.