Here, rescue dogs talk about what their lives were like before their present people:

Chaplin

Chaplin (Lhasa Apso mix): When I was little, I slipped in the tub where the people bathed me, and I couldn’t breathe. I had a little lady that always was cutting my hair. She liked me a lot. She took really good care of me. I ate human food, no dog food. My new person is right—that family did call me Chupacabra. The boys in the family called me that. One day, I got stolen out of the car window. My captors brought me to the shelter because I kept getting so sick with throw-up and diarrhea.

I love my family now. They are not obsessed with being clean. They have so much fun with me. I love my little friend I have. It is like everyday something new and exciting happens. I am not frightened of being stolen again because they make sure I am safe.

Ricky

Ricky (Aussie mix): You know what happened to me? I had too much energy and I would chase chickens. I would also scratch people when I jumped. So they kept me tied. I got let off in the morning and at night to play with big boys down the street. I pooped and peed then. They loved dogs running after balls. I had people who loved dogs, but didn’t now enough about them. They fed me better meat than I get now. I miss the meat I ate there. I think I had worm diseases ‘cause I had stomachache a lot of the time. Now I only sometimes have a stomachache.

Henna

Henna (mini Aussie): You know, what happened to me is that I got used as a tug toy by a big dog. They grabbed my leg out of its socket. It doesn’t scare me because I have what people call recovery. I liked to say that when you are rescued you think the world is way better than you thought before, and when that happens the future is so wonderful you don’t ever think of anything bad again.

Natasha

Natasha (German shepherd): My old owner dropped me off by a car. I had to run really fast to try to catch up. I couldn’t make it. I wandered until a woman picked me up and took me to the death shelter.

Fancy (Chihuahua): I had a lot babies who stayed with me for a long time until they went away. I had a lot of dog friends. I didn’t like when people would come to the dog area because they were really loud and they would bring a lot of kids. They would hold us and run with us. I hated that.

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