Linus

this is linus.

he was in pretty bad shape, though not as bad as it could have been, when he came to us last friday. he is not housebroken and he feels an intense need to mark his territory. which means EVERYWHERE considering this territory has already been claimed by our other dog dolores. thankfully neither dog is an alpha and they seem suited to each others temperment. because dolores is a boxer she has much more energy so she has to be thoroughly worn out already before she can play with linus as equals. otherwise he gets run over a bit. when i first met him at the rescue shelter the kind woman told me what she knew of him. that he had been born and raised in a puppy mill and was acting as the primary french bulldog stud. he was between 4-5 years old and had never been played with nor been outside (which is SICK). she was unsure what his diet was but from his horrible smell, flaking skin, and excessive shedding we can pretty much deduce that he had the crappiest, crap diet from craptown you can imagine. we have had him in our home for 4 days and he still hasn't eaten much by way of dog food. we have however figured out that he loves eggs and oatmeal (??) so once or twice i've stirred egg into his food bowl. i would not say that he is shy but he is definitely very jumpy. if you touch him without him premeditating the contact he will jump out of his skin or go flat to the ground. the first day he literally just slunk around and every time we tried to touch him his ears flattened and he cowered like we were going to hit him. also, his ears were a total ball of disgusting blobs but i took care of that. he has spent his entire existence inside a 3x4 crate on a concrete floor with no toys or people to interact with. that hasn't hindered him in the least with connected with and trusting my children or us though!

the saddest and also happiest part of him is his lack of contact with the outdoors so far in his life. it is awful that anyone would do this to an animal!! however seeing the joy he takes at curiously poking trees and rolling in the grass almost makes me cry. we literally have to pick him up and take him inside because once he touches grass he won't part with it willingly. he was completely unaware of what it meant to jump being as he spent 4-5 years in a crate but already he has learned quickly how to traverse a short distance up and down stairs. i am so angry at the people who owned him before. i understand the lure of money to some degree but the complete disregard for an animals dignity is beyond me.