Friends of Homeless Animals fundraiser Barktoberfest

Today was a fun day.  We went to Barktoberfest which is FOHA's (Friends of Homeless Animals) yearly fundraiser.

Theo did GREAT!  He loved all of the attention - from the volunteers and from strangers who just wanted to meet him.

                

              

He was great with all of the other dogs around and was exhausted by the time we got home.

With Spartacus, another FOHA Alumni
who was at the rescue for a quite a while.  

We got a lot of freebies from the vendors and purchased a gift basket that FOHA had for purchase.

The best part was that we got to hear his story.  We met the person who originally picked him up from Southern Virginia.  She said that she thought he was an owner surrender.

The other story we got to hear was when he was surrendered from the adopter who had him for 2 months.  He was dropped off at Dog University for training. He ended up reacting to the situation and acting aggressive towards the trainer.  The trainer ended up telling the adopters that he should be returned to the rescue.  FOHA came and got him back.  The volunteer said that the trainer had been using a animal control pole like this to get him in the crate at night and to lead him around.  She told us that when they went to pick him up, they could hear him growling and the trainer pulling him down the stairway to him.  She said that as soon as Theo saw her and Jack, the volunteer who we met and still keep in touch with, Theo recognized them and his body relaxed.

The adopters have put a bad review on Yelp! saying that FOHA doesn't let adopters know of the history of the animal.  SO NOT TRUE! We read the surrender papers and how he was "aggressive" towards others.  ANY dog is going to become aggressive when put into an unfamiliar situation and with a stranger.  PLUS - Shar Peis are known for challenging, independent, stubborn, and LOYAL.  What kind of trainer doesn't know the KNOWN personalities of a breed?

I will say this - we SAW that personality in Theo during his first few days.  He challenged us to see who was in charge/whether he could trust us.  We saw such a change in him within the first month.

Theo is an AWESOME dog.  He has fit into our lives and we are so happy to have him in our lives. We love him A LOT and was meant to be with us.  It makes me so sad that he had to go through what he went through.  I'm so glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  What if the adopter didn't take him back to the FOHA?  What if they had just put him down?  It's amazing how good he is considering what he's gone through.