Theas and Her Story

Theas was entrusted to another rescue when her owner passed away from COVID in 2020. They were told that the owner’s sister couldn’t deal with her because she was snippy and barky. I was a foster for that Rescue and originally was supposed to foster Theas but they had a different foster pick her up and bring her into the system. I was less than 24 hours from picking her up and her owner’s sister was willing to wait for me to get her. This is important to note, as dogs have feelings, and at this time Theas was feeling very confused already. And to place her with one foster then another in less than 24 hours was terrible, especially after just losing her person and spending a week with another person. For a dog like Theas, this was hard, and traumatic. By the time I picked her up she was hiding under the bed and trembling around people. We have made a point with our rescue to move dogs as little as possible. It took us a few weeks to coax her out and let her know she was safe and loved.

After a couple of months, she came around some but was still very leery. I explained to the rescue she needed a home or needed to stay with me. The next day, a potential adopter came along, and I was advised she had dog training experience and would be the perfect home. Unfortunately, this was not the case and after 3 weeks, contacted me saying she was not the right home for Theas. She got a promotion at work and had to work longer hours. She also had neighbors complaining about the barking. I planned to go get her back only to find out the rescue had another parent already lined up, that they were going to get Theas, and she was enrolled in dog training. I was so happy hoping the right home was on the horizon.

Joan King , another foster volunteer for this rescue, was the person who took Theas, not knowing at the time that I was willing to take Theas back. She was told that she had to be removed from her situation immediately. She agreed to help and picked her up the next day. She was much loved and was called Tia and got along with the other dogs in the family but was still anxious and on medication. Joan was eventually told to contact me because I had originally fostered Theas.

We were in contact with each other concerning Theas’ behavior and training and she had been working with a vet to help with her anxiety issues. Joan realized how much I cared for Theas and was so sorry that it took her so long to learn of the circumstances and her past history. About a year and a half after having Theas, Joan had serious health issues and contacted me to see if I would be willing to take Theas while she dealt with her health concerns and I readily agreed. Since she was still on medication, I was going to take Theas to a trainer I knew, to see if she could get some help and after a few months we would look at what was best for Theas.

Joan had to contact the other rescue to get permission to have me take over Theas/Tia’s care and was told that would be in her best interest because she “wouldn’t like what would happen to her if she came back to the rescue” because she felt she was beyond help. There was no way she was going to let Theas be euthanized. I contacted the original group and advised them I had gone and retrieved the dog and had her, and I was told to “terminate her, she was beyond help and you “COULD SEE THE EVIL” in her eyes”. I was horrified.
A few days later Joan was told she had to be officially released from the original rescue and immediately be adopted.

We were originally going to share the cost of a trainer, but I decided to pay for a personal trainer out of my own pocket, to see what happened. The first suggestion of the trainer was, can you get in touch with the person that surrendered her and he gave me a list of specific questions to ask. I said I was not supposed to, but didn’t belong to the other rescue anymore and still had the original surrender work, so I did. We found out Theas was not surrendered because of behavioral issues, she was surrendered because the sister simply already had 2 dogs and could not have a third. The previous owner was eccentric and kept her on a leash with him at all times, so the trainer had me start keeping her on a leash, and I saw a 100 % difference. Then we started training, and within 2 weeks she was a different dog. We then started to take her off the meds for anxiety, and she just kept improving. She gets along with all of my original dogs and all the new dogs that come into Western NC Sheltie Rescue. Joan also gets to see Theas often.