You're good people. He's a sweetheart.
I would ask the vet about Pancreatin (a digestive enzyme), yogurt and a potato based diet. We have four large dogs and use these methods to make sure we don't get gassed in our sleep.
I completely appreciate what people are saying about the possibility that he's lost. I would be devastated if any of my guys took off so we have equipped them with collars with our phone number embroidered on them and microchips and I can only hope that whoever found them would check these things and return our dogs.
That said, I worked for a rescue for two years as a foster and put 20,000 miles on my truck transporting rescued dogs. I worked with hundreds of dogs from one day to many months rehabbing at our house.
You would not BELIEVE what people do when it comes to their dogs. Many who purchase from breeders or pay for the surgeries such as cropping ears which bring the purebred to "standard" and who drop thousands of dollars on getting the dog do so in order to obtain a status symbol (just like getting a really neat car) and operate on the conviction that that is the sole cost of ownership. They can make absolutely no further investment in the dog other than occasionally feeding it.
Even people who invest in surgeries for health purposes (like entropian) or neutering get fed up when something else happens which would incur another expense and get rid of the dog one way or another, sometimes by giving them to a relative or friend who then surrenders it. Dogs who have microchips are no guarantees either. All the owner has to do is change their phone number.
Our foster failure, Franny, is a classic example. She was found wandering the streets near a shelter. The shelter kept her for a month before contacting the rescue the day before she was to be put down. Fran had been found with a tail injury which had healed with the bone exposed. She is a purebred lab, absolutely gorgeous, spayed, great with children and other dogs (clearly well socialized since we have no kids), and, get this, trained on a halter with all of her basic commands.
She has one little problem though which was probably the deal breaker for her former family - she is deathly allergic to dust mites and it makes her crazy when it goes untreated. We kept her in part because we didn't trust anyone else to take care of her. She literally seems insane when she's having a reaction. And all they had to do was give her some Benadryl . . . Oh well.
I hope Samson works out for you. Keep us posted.
I would ask the vet about Pancreatin (a digestive enzyme), yogurt and a potato based diet. We have four large dogs and use these methods to make sure we don't get gassed in our sleep.
I completely appreciate what people are saying about the possibility that he's lost. I would be devastated if any of my guys took off so we have equipped them with collars with our phone number embroidered on them and microchips and I can only hope that whoever found them would check these things and return our dogs.
That said, I worked for a rescue for two years as a foster and put 20,000 miles on my truck transporting rescued dogs. I worked with hundreds of dogs from one day to many months rehabbing at our house.
You would not BELIEVE what people do when it comes to their dogs. Many who purchase from breeders or pay for the surgeries such as cropping ears which bring the purebred to "standard" and who drop thousands of dollars on getting the dog do so in order to obtain a status symbol (just like getting a really neat car) and operate on the conviction that that is the sole cost of ownership. They can make absolutely no further investment in the dog other than occasionally feeding it.
Even people who invest in surgeries for health purposes (like entropian) or neutering get fed up when something else happens which would incur another expense and get rid of the dog one way or another, sometimes by giving them to a relative or friend who then surrenders it. Dogs who have microchips are no guarantees either. All the owner has to do is change their phone number.
Our foster failure, Franny, is a classic example. She was found wandering the streets near a shelter. The shelter kept her for a month before contacting the rescue the day before she was to be put down. Fran had been found with a tail injury which had healed with the bone exposed. She is a purebred lab, absolutely gorgeous, spayed, great with children and other dogs (clearly well socialized since we have no kids), and, get this, trained on a halter with all of her basic commands.
She has one little problem though which was probably the deal breaker for her former family - she is deathly allergic to dust mites and it makes her crazy when it goes untreated. We kept her in part because we didn't trust anyone else to take care of her. She literally seems insane when she's having a reaction. And all they had to do was give her some Benadryl . . . Oh well.
I hope Samson works out for you. Keep us posted.
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