Teddy

4/10/23: SAD UPDATE ON TEDDY: WE PICKED TEDDY UP TODAY. HERE IS THE STORY LEADING UP TO US BRINGING TEDDY BACK HOME TO THE RESCUE: We received a text the other day from our vet stating that a shelter had Teddy in Gainesville. How was he in Gainesville when he was adopted to a lady in Old Town? We had so many questions and attempted to reach out to the adopter thru phone call, text (which went unanswered)and also thru FB messenger (only to find out we were prevented from sending messages to this person there now).As everyone knows,Teddy was adopted at the beginning of March after lingering in rescue for over 2 long years. We were ecstatic that Teddy was finally getting a home. Unfortunately, that home was not what we had hoped it would be for him. The shelter reached out to us (thanks to Teddy's microchip) to get adopter info so that they could attempt to contact her (since she didn't know their number and figured she might answer their call) and let us know that Teddy had a leg injury. At that time, we still did not know the extent of the injury or how he came to be in Gainesville. The shelter did make contact with the adopter and was told that she had given Teddy away because he was killing her chickens (we have clearly stated that Teddy was not good with small animals so not sure why this person would think he wouldnt kill chickens but i digress)but had no name or contact info for that person (we don't know if this was true or if Teddy had just gotten away). We don't understand why Teddy was not returned to us if it was not working out as our contract clearly states we will take our dogs back if there is an issue. Anyways, he ended up in a lady's yard and Dixie Animal Control picked him up (not sure why his chip didn't scan where he would have come back to us at that time but was told the scanner didn't read his chip) soooo..off to Gainesville Teddy goes where FINALLY its determined he belongs to us since the adopter clearly did not want him back. The shelter went into more detail about his injury and said that it appeared that he may have been hit by a car and now needed an amputation, which is scheduled for tomorrow. We okayed the amputation and will be picking him up at the end of the week however, we are hoping that we can garner some funds to assist with the cost of his leg amputation and see if anyone might want to foster Teddy as he heals. This whole situation has us very upset and sad for Teddy. We had hoped for a loving home and he ended up with exactly the opposite and will now lose part or all of his leg. Teddy did not deserve this and we feel some guilt for putting our trust in this person to take good care of him and give him a good life. We were definitely not prepared for this.We will be giving the shelter what we can towards his amputation and any help to get Teddy back on his feet and safely back to us is greatly appreciated. It is the shelter who will be doing the amputation and not our regular vet as time is of the essence to get him pain free and fix his leg. Listed as special needs because of the leg amputation but does not require special care. Teddy does well with larger dogs but does not do well with small animals,including small dogs. 11/26/22: Teddy has been with us for 2 years now and is now almost 3 years old. He would really love the opportunity to have a family of his own as he has never really had one. Teddy, an approx 1 year old red vizsla/pitbull mix is looking for his forever home. He was neutered and vetted yesterday. He walks pretty well on a leash but he is a strong guy who hasn't learned all of his manners yet. He was raised with kids but probably older kids would be best as Teddy has a lot of energy and is very rambunctious. An active home would be great for him. He will need training as he really never got any..he was just left to his own devices and that just leads to an unruly dog. He is slowly learning that he doesn't get to do whatever he wants here but that will need to continue to be reinforced. He has been around other dogs, was raised with them but would probably do best with dogs his size or larger. He can be food aggressive but was very skinny when he came to us so resource guarding became important to him so that he wouldn't starve. He does understand that he must wait when being fed, if you make him wait before feeding. He has no food aggression towards people that we have seen, only other dogs. This should be able to be overcome with regular meals and getting him over feeling that he needs to guard his food or starve to death. Feeding separately is also an option. We do not know how Teddy does with cats. As far as we know, he has had zero experience with cats.He would probably chase them so a home without cats is recommended. With patience and consistency, Teddy will make an awesome companion. He is a young guy with lots of potential!! Teddy's adoption fee will be $175.00 and will help to cover his neuter, vetting and cost of care while with us. If interested in giving Teddy his forever home, please complete our adoption application and email your interest. You may also text ONLY to 352-215-3260 (phone calls will not be answered or returned from this number), FB message us or call 352-493-1255(please leave a message at this number if no answer. Text, email or FB message is best for quickest response.