Howie was six years old when he came to us from a horrible situation where he was neglected and abused.  He was primarily used for breeding purposes and he had grown accustomed to being handled roughly - he didn't have any positive associations with humans at all.  Even the gentlest touch would often cause him to “freeze”.  His ears were infected, many of his teeth were abscessed and he was missing most of his hair.  He was placed in a loving foster home so that we could provide him with the medical treatment and TLC that he so desperately needed.

Howie’s infections were treated, he was neutered, tattooed, micro-chipped and provided with some much needed dental care.  We tried to determine the cause of his hair loss and we ruled out mange, hypothyroidism and Cushing’s Disease.  We hoped that his baldness might be related to an over-production of testosterone and that neutering him might solve the problem, however that was not the case either.  In the end, our vet concluded that Howie's hair loss was purely a cosmetic issue and was not causing him any harm.  Although we were saddened to learn that his hair would probably never grow back, we were extremely relieved that his baldness wasn’t associated with any type of illness.

It took a relatively short period of time to take care of Howie’s physical needs, but his emotional scars ran much deeper.  He suffered from fear and anxiety which were manifested through neurotic behaviors.  His dedicated foster mom worked with him for months on building his trust and improving his confidence, however it became clear that Howie would likely never completely overcome his past and he would always struggle with his own personal demons.  After spending eight months in our foster care program, Howie’s foster mom decided to adopt him as a permanent member of the family.  She loved him more and understood him better than anyone else and she wanted to provide him with the amazing forever home that he so badly deserved.  Howie is now living the good life in Honeymoon Bay.  His mom works mostly from home, so she has lots of time to spend with him and he has canine siblings and foster siblings to run and play with.