My wife and I met Chloe the brindle dog two years ago languishing at a local shelter where we were volunteering.
She was alone and forgotten, relegated to a dank little corner in a windowless room.
Often she would spend most of the day standing in her own mess until the shelter staff could catch up with all their cleaning duties.
Yet in spite of her living conditions, her personality was so calm and demure. She was just happy to get out, get walked. She was so grateful for her 20 minutes of sunshine. I couldn’t help but fall in love with her.
This is her story.
Curtis Scott, Dog Trainer
Before we met Chloe, we worked with a wonderful dog trainer named Curtis Scott. He helped us with both Denver and Benji, each of which had their own set of problems.
Curtis invited me to start volunteering at a shelter in our neighborhood. This shelter was doing really great work and he always volunteered there himself on the weekends.
That’s when he introduced us to Chloe.
Abuse Case
A Chicago police officer found her two years prior chained to a tree in her owner’s backyard. She was covered with scars and looked like she hadn’t been inside in months.
The police called Chicago’s animal control immediately and she was confiscated.
Everyone believed she was being used for breeding fighting dogs. They also believed the scars on her head and body were from being used as a bait dog for dog fights (a bait dog is often used to rev the fighting dogs up for a fight).
She then spent the next several months at Chicago’s animal control facility while the city of Chicago pursued an animal abuse case against her owner.
Court Case Ends
The case against Chloe’s owner finally ends and her status as “evidence” is eventually removed (we actually don’t know what the final judgement was). She officially became property of the city of Chicago.
The AC staff tried to adopt her out but they faced an uphill battle. First, there are a ton of pitbulls that come through the animal control facility. Second, she is VERY sensitive around strange dogs. She is not very trusting (understandably). It was hard for the shelter staff to clear her for public adoption.
Eventually, AC gave her “red alert”status, which meant that if another shelter doesn’t pull her she will be put to sleep. She was pulled by our neighborhood shelter at the last moment.
Foster Fail
So she lived at the neighborhood shelter until my wife and I met her some two years later.
She was so well behaved it was hard to believe she was abused. My wife and I offered to foster her.
Introducing Chloe to Denver and Benji went well and we brought her home.
Four months later, we officially adopted her.
And we haven’t looked back.
