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Profile of Nate; the rescued bloodhound
By Beckie Decker
Nate is our bloodhound. His history, before February of '95, is a mystery. He was turned in to The North Richland Hills Animal Shelter without papers. His owners said he was too expensive to keep, that he was bought from a breeder in the country and that his birthday was sometime in July. Nate was frightened, underweight and missing much of his hair due to mange.The animal shelter called Brenda Howard, who was working toward incorporation of the Southcentral Regional Breed Rescue Organization, and told her of Nate. Brenda was in the midst of a brand new litter of bloodhound puppies and called Judy McDonald asking her, could she take a look at the hound, and if possible, foster him 'til a home could be found.
Judy took him from the shelter straight to the vet where he was vaccinated and started on treatment for his mange. Over the next few months, Nate gained weight and was responding to the mange dips. He was neutered and had a hernia repaired, but remained shy and frightened for a very long time. Judy worked with him, coaxing him out of his run into the common area of the kennel with toys and treats, but he would snatch the goody from her and dash back to safety. If she raised her arm over her head, he would fall to the ground and cry. Slowly, he responded to her efforts and began to trust again. Judy got very attached to Nate, and would have kept him, but her husband could tolerate no more than the two dogs they already had. Several potential families came to meet Nate, but Judy just couldn't quite let go. The potential families were too far from her, and she wanted to keep up with him. But 8 months had gone by and finding a permanent home was becoming very important for Nate.
Brenda Howard, sent an e-mail message to the bloodhound bunch that a hound was available for adoption; was anyone interested.
Now my family comes in the picture. We were looking for a puppy, had decided it was time. Our old girl, Dixie, had died two years before. We were bloodhound people without a bloodhound. I told Kenny about Nate and we agreed to go look at him. As it turned out, Judy lived only 15 miles from us. We went to meet Nate the following evening, and we loved him the minute we saw him. He responded well to us, was calm, gentle and friendly. He chased after his toy, but cut a wide path around our 3 year old and 7 year old daughters, being very careful of them. He didn't jump on anyone. He didn't lick anyone in the face (darn it!). There wasn't a trace of the frightened dog Judy brought home from the pound. He was perfect for our family. We took him home that evening, leaving Judy with tears in her eyes, and a promise that we'd bring him back if he didn't get along with our Great Dane, Myrtle, and that yes, she could visit anytime.
No need to worry about Nate and Myrtle. They became instant best friends, playing hard. Early on there was one dispute over a 'cookie', but it embarrassed them both so much, it's never been repeated. It's impossible to tell which has the dominant personality.
We soon fell into a routine with Nate. He's the perfect bloodhound with very few bad habits. He sticks his nose in the trash but rarely pulls anything out. He does steal stuffed animals from the girls' room, but it's an endearing habit, since he really just wants to cuddle with them, not destroy them. My only real concern has been that he's too well behaved. It seemed he didn't feel like he belonged here. My daughters are constantly testing their limits, it's a normal thing to do when you feel confident with your situation. I wanted Nate to test his limits. While most people are looking for their hounds to act right, I'm looking for Nate to misbehave. And you know what? Just last week, after four months with us, he climbed up on the couch for the first time. He eyed us, waiting for a reaction. Kenny said, "You know, we ought not encourage that." I agreed, but instead of shooing him off, we both stood smiling down at him, proud and happy. What the heck. Myrtle has the loveseat, why shouldn't Nate have the couch? Besides, it felt like a victory.
And Judy McDonald? She does visit Nate. He's always happy to see her. I need to call her. I've been wanting to talk about breed rescue. I'm getting more involved now that Brenda has taken the ABC Editor assignment and finds she just doesn't have the time to devote to both the bulletin and rescue. I do have the time, and besides, I owe breed rescue a great debt for my Nate.