About Opal

In March I was driving in my motorhome with my husband and 4 dogs from our house in Mexico to our house in New York and I saw this dog on the 'Dalmatians Needing Homes' Facebook page in a shelter in Oklahoma. ��%BD%A0It turned out we were passing right through this town so I reached out to the shelter and arranged to meet up to meet this sweet girl named Opal. ��%BD%A0We met her and she seemed to get along with our other four dogs. ��%BD%A0She was pretty beaten up and had bite wounds and scabs on her from clearly having been in fights and/or abused by other dogs. ��%BD%A0She was also emaciated and looked really sad. ��%BD%A0They told us she had been returned to the shelter twice already by people who adopted her but then decided they didn't want her. ��%BD%A0We have rescued 10 other Dalmatians through the years, have decades of experience with the breed and felt that we should take this sweet girl and give her a great life. ��%BD%A0The ad states and they told us that she is good with other dogs, cats, and children. ��%BD%A0This is NOT the case. ��%BD%A0Long story short - we took her, got her home to New York and after taking her to the vet found out that she was sick with Giardia. ��%BD%A0We had to treat the entire pack as it is highly contagious. ��%BD%A0She is otherwise in perfect health which blood and urine tests confirmed. ��%BD%A0As time went on, we found out that this shelter was not completely honest with us. ��%BD%A0She has a horrible fear based aggression toward other dogs and as I stated before we have four other dogs. She is easily triggered by them and lashes out aggressively towards them. ��%BD%A0Luckily my 4 other dogs are not reactive to her or otherwise I would be breaking up dog fights all the time. ��%BD%A0We have tried everything starting with various medications and combinations of medications with my regular vet who was finally at a loss and referred us to a board certified veterinary behavior specialist, and we tried other medications and combinations of medications, we have used three different trainers and pretty much everyone has agreed that the best situation for Opal and for us and our other 4 dogs and for all of our quality of life is that we rehome her. ��%BD%A0I've never had to do anything like this before. ��%BD%A0I've never had to rehome a dog before and I don't even know where to begin. ��%BD%A0What I do know is that although we love her she really has put us through hell the past 6 months. ��%BD%A0She is one of the most strikingly beautiful Dalmatians that I've ever seen. ��%BD%A0Her coat is soft as silk, and she is the sweetest, most special girl with humans. ��%BD%A0Our latest trainer advised us to keep her separate from the pack and let her out alone and feed her alone, etc - which we've been doing - and she is MUCH happier away from the other dogs and enjoys the one on one attention with us. ��%BD%A0Our trainers and veterinarians all believe that she will thrive in a home where she is the only dog and I would venture to say no children either because she gets weird about her tail being touched and if she's playing with a toy, she doesn't like it to be taken away from her, so there are issues like that with her, but she really is just lovely. ��%BD%A0She does not have food aggression. ��%BD%A0Our hearts are broken that we have to face the reality of rehoming her. ��%BD%A0She is four years old. ��%BD%A0Her birthday is January 23, 2021. ��%BD%A0She is micro chipped. ��%BD%A0She is spayed. ��%BD%A0She is up-to-date on all of her shots and she is in perfect health. ��%BD%A0She is very obedient and has been trained and knows come, sit, stay, go to your spot, lay down, give paw, she is crate-trained and she walks well on a leash too. ��%BD%A0I would never consider returning her to this shelter because she was seriously neglected there. ��%BD%A0Can you please help me or guide me? ��%BD%A0I will be forever grateful. I am willing to provide transport if you can help me find the right home for her. Thank you so much.

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Suffolk County
East Patchogue, New York

Albert Milite: 631-294-1303

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