Butch was an American Bulldog of about 2 years old who came into Furry Friends care with just 24 hours left before he was put to sleep. A nationwide appeal had been put out by the SWAP (South West Animal Protection) team, but no help came for Butch. He was a dog who had obviously been brought as a status symbol and is a good example of how such a strong willed breed in the wrong hands can get out of hand.

It wasn't Butch's fault. He had endured having to live in a cupboard under the stairs, long hours of being ignored with nothing to do which lead to destructive tenancies and finally being put in a dog crate and left there for 23 hours a day (this was his treatment in yet another home). Butch had been handed from person to person and each time the home could not cope with him.

 

Finally it was D-day for Butch. It seemed that nobody could handle him, no rescue would help him and the only answer was to euthanase him.  

When we heard about his plight, there was only really one option and that was to transfer him from his home to Surrey where we would try our best to rehab him and see if we could help sort his behaviour out.

 

Butch was bought to us by a kind volunteer and when he arrived we were shocked...at his size! He was a brute of a dog and honestly thought that he was totally in charge! When Butch strutted his stuff he was used to everybody moving out of his way and when he wanted something, he got it! Until now that was!!!

 

The first job was castration. He was a hormonal devil when he first arrived and this job was an absolute necessity (although all dogs are neutered on arrival here regardless). He recovered quickly and the change in his temperament was almost immediate.

He was never a bad dog, just very misunderstood and needed time, training and confidence building.

Although he was huge, he had times where he would show his vulnerable side. Sometimes he would be cringey probably due to previous owners trying to assert their dominance over him. This does not work with dogs. Smacking, kicking and punching is not a natural behaviour to dogs and teaches them nothing, although people are still not realising this.

 

Butch stayed with us for many months whilst we worked on his people skills. He could still be volatile with strangers, but this was getting better over time.

We got as far as we thought we could with Butch, but a dogs behaviour in kennels is very different than that of in a home. He went up for rehoming to an experienced handler.

 

Finally his lucky day arrived and he has an enquiry from James and Becca who were very interested in him.

They visited him and were also very surprised at his size. He was certainly no weedy boy!

 

They agreed that they would love to adopt him and after their homecheck was passed carried on with the adoption.

 

Things did not go smoothly for Butch as he had obviously never lived as a dog that had been intergrated into a family home. He was suspicious of visitors, had to be watched when out on his walks with people he didn't know and continued to be reactive to other dogs.