Sorry to hear your tale StN. News that like out of the blue is always shit.
While not technically my pet (sorry for breaking the thread rules), I'll post some pics. This guy was a stray that needed to be rehomed. Someone had taken him in and he had jumped the fence and attacked the neighbour's dog and they called animal control who had said they wanted to put him down. My friend was in the area (Auckland), and she loves animals so she picked him up in the night and brought him down the country to stay with me until we found him a new home.
He's a pitbull mix breed of some description (I'm not a dog expert), and so with the bad reputation they have and his "priors", I expected some asshole dog, but he was really quite lovely. He was not at all aggressive or noisy - I didn't hear him bark until the courier arrived unexpectedly. He took no notice of other dogs when we were out and about, but he was terrified of the big concrete bull statues in Bulls.
He was very obedient and gentle - I'm not particularly brave around strange dogs - and while I didn't even want him in my house to begin with ("I've got a goat shed he can stay in"), he soon had the couch to himself and then slept next to the bed. His only problem was he didn't like being left alone, and would panic whenever he was in isolation and chew or scratch at anything to try and escape (my venetian blinds got attacked when he was trying to look out the window at us). I had fun testing his willpower putting food in front of him and making him wait, or throwing the chew toy - but he was useless at bringing it back.
One woman in Palmy offered to take him but we went to visit her and she was obviously poor and couldn't offer him a good home so we turned her down. Another lady and her daughter from Christchurch said they were ready for a new dog and they seemed like a much better fit. They sent a pillowcase and t-shirt they had worn so he could learn their scent (is that a thing? no idea) and my friend took him on the ferry to Picton where they had driven up to meet and bond with him, and he's now happily settled in to a new home.
