Pre-shelter, Atlas lived a lifetime of abuse and neglect. His previous owner used to beat him whenever he barked at the mailman or anyone else who was walking by the house, which is a normal thing for a dog to do. They also would not let him out on their backyard because they did not want to have to clean up his waste, so Atlas was often cooped up inside the house. Being a 75lbs dog, he needed the space and physical simulation that the backyard would’ve provided. Atlas would sneak out of the house to walk himself, and sometimes while walking himself, he would visit the neighbor and play with her 2-year-old and 5-year-old kids. She said that Atlas was always so kind to her kids.
The day he was surrendered to the overcrowded shelter…
Atlas’s neighborhood was frequented by feisty street dogs. The shelter said that Atlas was surrendered because he had attacked these street dogs. What the shelter never disclosed (or may not even know) is that those street dogs had chased him and had bitten him first- so he attacked them back in self-defense.
As the physical abuse and neglect by his previous owner was not enough, he was surrendered to an overcrowded shelter that then scheduled him for euthanasia. As if that is not enough, he has now been living the cold hard floor of a boarding facility in Patterson, CA for SEVEN months, waiting for a new home (foster or adopter) to take him in and give him another chance to be loved and cared for. Although the boarding facility’s staff and volunteers love him and have been taking good care of him, it is not where a 7-year-old dog like Atlas should be spending his golden years. Additionally, we still need to continue paying for his boarding fees, which as mentioned before, we do not have the funds for.
If you could please share his profile and/or donate toward his boarding fees, that would help us continue helping him. We cannot afford to pull any more dogs until both Atlas is in a safe and loving home.
Although he can walk alongside other dogs his size or bigger, if anyone with a dog at home is interested in fostering/adopting him, they will still need to do slow proper introductions between him and their personal dog (i.e. crate & rotate or other separation methods for 2 weeks). Preferably NO CATS and no small dogs though!