Welcome Home Butch!

As with every dog we have adopted, we have searched for the one that would fit into our family best. After meeting 3 or 4 dogs over the past few months, we finally had one steal our heart. We welcome the newest addition to our family, Butch! Butch is 2 years old and is a black great dane/labrador retriever mix. While our Butch is unique, his story is not. There are far too many dogs and cats that could tell the exact same story. Even so, as advocates of adopting animals from a shelter, we feel compelled to tell Butch's story. Warning: graphic photo of animal neglect below.

Here is our Butch as we know him today: happy, healthy, mild mannered and just a big teddy bear. The great dane breed is often described as a gentle giant and Butch lives up to the name.

When Butch and his brother Sundance came into the shelter, they were 7 months old. They had an owner but were victims of animal neglect. Lucky for us, someone had the courage to call the shelter and report the so called Owner. Below is a picture of when the brothers came into the shelter.

And Lucky for Butch and Sundance, the Heavenly Pet Sanctuary in Fairfield, IA (situated on 34 acres) took them in, nursed them back to health (with a combination of holistic practices: fresh food diet and vitamins/supplements), gave them love and showed them how to trust humans again. Here are the brothers again only 2 months after being at the shelter. Looking pretty good huh?

Butch has been home for 3 days and is doing great. He and his brother were completely unsocialized so we were prepared for challenges after bringing him home. He is shy and is taking time to get used to all of us. But as we have done this before we realize all things related to living in a house and being with a family with 3 kids and 1 dog are all new to him. We are giving him his space but also not letting him hide from us. The first day he spent a lot of time in the hallway by the door to the garage. Gradually he has moved a little closer. Yesterday he laid in the kitchen just across from the living room (where we were) and today he came into the living and laid down on his own. It's so amazing to see this type of transformation in just a few days. He doesn't jump, doesn't lick and has that wonderful "big dog" trait of leaning into you when you are petting him. Amy and Butch are often nose to nose or forehead to forehead. He just loves being loved.

FYI - If you do come visit us, he is shy but will warm up to you, we just have to not let him hide from our visitors. So by all means, come visit, the more visitors we have the better it is for Butch!

Welcome Home Butch, we love you already!