I'm mortified, angry and really sad all at the same time this afternoon.
My ex wife Jenny called me this morning to tell me that one of the lovely little pedigree Pug pups "P1&P2" that we homed to a woman in Brisbane in July last year has come back to us in an god-awful state.
I didn't know it, but this woman (who has had one of our pups before and wanted another as a playmate) never ended up paying Jenny for Monty, as he was called. Jenny was still chasing for the rest of a considerable sum still owing months later, as the poor little thing was sent to Brisbane in good faith as she was a previous client who apparently looked after her first dog well. This prompted Jenny, in a final act of desperation, to call this womans business to try and catch her. She wouldn't talk to Jenny, so Jenny was given the phone number of this womans brother. The brother went around to have a look at the dog and reported back that it "didn't look like the dog was being fed". It was neglected, she told us, because it used to "attack" the children and was food unfriendly with the other two dogs they had.
Jenny saw red and arranged for Monty to be extricated from the house, and transported back to Sydney by plane. This morning poor Monty arrived. I went to collect him and nearly died. The poor, poor little bloke is almost HALF what he should weigh by this stage - 6 months old and way less than 4kg. For a Pug that's criminally underfed. He's covered in sores and voracious hot spots as you can see. His ribs show completely when he walks. His legs look like they're going to break. He's going to take a lot of love and food before he recovers. He looks more like a whippet than a Pug.
I've taken him under my wing and he's a beautifully friendly little fella. Having him here, he "attacks" me by standing on his hind legs looking for a cuddle. How anyone could interpret that as "violent" I'll never know. Her kids aren't babies, and are closer to 12 than 2. He's a sook, as he should be. He's beautiful
He gets on with Chops and Bongo (my two Pugs), but is timid and a little snappy, and so would I be if I were him. I'm going to keep him and give him a good life. We've already bonded.
He's eating good puppy food like it's going out of style. He's so hungry that even at his weight he's wolfing down three times what the others eat..I'll have to moderate him and give him what he requires, without overfeeding him as this leads to the runs and all sorts of other issues. He'll settle on an appropriate amount after a couple of days I think.
Anyway - sorry to vent, but I'm disgusted a teary that someone we thought we KNEW reasonably well is actually capable of doing this to a poor little dog. We're having the brother go around and let us know how Frankie, out first dog to her a couple of years ago, is doing. For her sake, Frankie had better be all right.