Ugh. Yesterday I witnessed something very sad. We went to the Humane Society with my aunt because there was a really nice dog I wanted her to visit. She and my cousins seemed really serious about getting a dog since they're new house is finally built, so that's why I told them we should go and look at this dog. This dog was a mistreated, extremely shy, Treeing Walker Coonhound. Despite his shyness and his past, he's a complete sweetheart once he warms up to you. My aunt decided that she wanted him, so she adopted him and took him home last night. We went back to her house because my mom is really experienced with animals and knows the first night is usually the worst. The dog is really nervous when we get him home. All he wants to do is go outside because that's where he feels safe, and this makes sense....he was found out in the country with another hound, both starving and killing barn cats for food. Most likely someone mistreated them and then dumped them in the country or they ran away from an abusive hunter. We don't even know how long it had been since he was in an actual house, perhaps he had never been in an actual house and was always kept outside. Anyways, like I said, when we get home the dog is nervous and just keeps sitting at the door. My aunt brings him on a walk once and then decides she's done walking him for the night. You can't do that! New dogs that come to your house need to be brought outside to go to the restroom evey half hour to forty five minutes. So my mom and I start bringing the dog outside everytime, and guess what? The dog starts to become more attached to us than his actual owner because we are taking care of him! And it didn't help this poor dog bond with my aunt when she yelled at him for putting his paw up on the door to go outside. You cannot yell at nervous, mistreated dogs the first night you have them. So, my aunt decides that it would be best to put the dog in his cage for the rest of the night because she "needs to wrap presents". Dogs that come to your home need to be led around and shown the house so they are more comfortable! They are not supposed to be out in there cage and ignored. As we are wrapping presents my aunt decides she doesn't want the dog anymore and starts saying things like "my life is so stressful", "when I come home from work I don't want to deal with a dog", "the kids better take responsibility for this dog", "I don't want him peeing on my new house", "I didn't know dogs were this much work", etc. Then my aunt says she doesn't want the dog anymore and she's bringing it back to the Hunane Society tomorrow. Great! At this point I'm so mad! This poor dog has done nothing and he's already getting returned where he's just going to become more nervous around humans and continue to lay on the hard, cold ground. I just went over to the dog and gave him a kiss and we left. I admit, I was crying. I was so mad and sad that first off someone made this dog so nervous and stressed and second off, my aunt just adopted this dog without thinking and now is just returning him. And my family would adopt him, but when he was running around in the country all he had to eat was cats. So now he hates cats and eats them. We can't keep him on our property because we have barn cats and they are very important because they keep the mice at bay. I'm just really upset. 
The poor thing doesn't deserve this at all. Luckily my mom said we can visit him and work on socializing him until he gets adopted. I just wish that we could adopt him, because I can tell he's a very special, kindhearted dog. But, the only good thing that came out of this is I realized that I need to spend more time with my dogs. And I need to hug them and kiss them more often. And so everyone who has a dog here, go hug them for me, and especially if they were adopted and mistreated before, give them an extra big hug! 
The poor thing doesn't deserve this at all. Luckily my mom said we can visit him and work on socializing him until he gets adopted. I just wish that we could adopt him, because I can tell he's a very special, kindhearted dog. But, the only good thing that came out of this is I realized that I need to spend more time with my dogs. And I need to hug them and kiss them more often. And so everyone who has a dog here, go hug them for me, and especially if they were adopted and mistreated before, give them an extra big hug! 
Now he gets all the cuddles and kisses that he wants. He sleeps in whatever bed he wants too. He even has his own Christmas present under the tree (wrapped, of course 
)! 
I went to the coop and got her two eggs to make her breakfast with.
couldn't you train him not to go after cats like you can train dogs to protect chickens? I think it would be a lot of work but I bet you could do it.
Are you absilutely positive he HATES cats? There's a big difference between eating a cat because your starving and hating a cat. Also since he's a hound the likelyhood of his having been a house dog is pretty slim.
If she sends him back, my mom said we might actually foster him at our house because he needs a lot of human interaction in order to be come more sociable and have a better chance at adoption. She doesn't want him to go back where he's just going to spend his days in a kennel getting more timid. 
