I’ve wanted a dog for quite some some now. I’ve always been drawn to English Bulldogs – they have amazingly friendly personalities, they don’t get enormous, they rarely bark, and I think they’re absolutely adorable. So I started reading websites and books, learning as much as I could about bulldogs. When I felt ready to adopt, I searched for a rescue organization in Florida and found Adopt-a-Bull Rescue in Coral Springs. They seemed very thorough in their care for the dogs, and I could tell they were very particular about which dogs go home with which humans. So I contacted Beth at Adopt-a-Bull and started the adoption process.
Here’s the story of Gorda’s rescue, as documented by Beth:
In all my years of rescue, I have never experienced a rescue such as Gorda’s. Here’s how it all went down: We got a FRANTIC call on our rescue hotline at around 5pm about an English Bullie in major distress!! We were told she was seen wandering (but most likely was dumped) along the side of highway 441 and Prospect Road at about 1pm and was clearly suffering from heat/sun exposure among other obvious (and more than likely not so obvious) medical issues. I was the closest to the location so I immediately left work, dropped everything and went to see if I could help. Here is a picture of what I found when I pulled up….  I took this pic as I approached the location where the 2 men were pointing to, they kept pointing to a heap of bushes and a fallen down chain link fence. I saw nothing but a white blob among the brush (THAT WAS GORDA!) I had to check to see if she was breathing because among first glance she DID NOT LOOK GOOD AT ALL! She was either so scared or seeking shelter, or a combo of the two, that she had wedged herself so far into the little cramped space that it appeared as if she were actually stuck under the fence, like it had fallen on her. It took a good 15 minutes of baiting her with food & water, as I gained her trust slowly, while the two men both held up the fence above us the whole time. Wearing office attire and high heel shoes, it must have looked like a circus act to passerbys as I crouched in a squatting position among rubble and brush talking to an unseen thing! It took me about 15 mins to coax her into my vehicle, the vehicle that I literally left parked on the side of the road, car running with my emergency flashers on. Oooopps! (I forgot about my car!) She was completely out of it, I loaded her in my car and rushed her to the vet.  PLEASE consider making a donation to help us with the bullie. She is in danger and will need round the clock care until she’s stabilized.
It’s now the next day and Gorda is doing so much better! She’s on the road to recovery! She will be spending at least the next few days at the vet. We discovered that she is in fact micro chipped to a registered owner, but it seems like their information is no longer valid, so we have fulfilled our legal obligation by reporting our “found dog” to the county so that we may declare her officially “our dog” as soon as her legal days are up. She has a major flea infestation, she has a bi-lateral eye infection and open wounds, swollen and infected ears, skin infection, and she is either in heat, pregnant, or has a major infection in her girly part (pet vet). Testing & treatment continue today and thru the weekend. Stay tuned!
6-14-12 UPDATE: Gorda has finished her pre heart worm treatment evaluation. While her bloodwork looks great, she does have some changes to her heart and lungs from the heart worm disease. That means we will do a more spread out, extended treatment schedule to kill the adult heart worms. She has settled in quickly, and has never met a human she did not love. She loves to have her tail scratched, lets you know when she needs to go out, and has been an very model patient.  Gorda is doing well; she could care less about storms, very housebroken, loves attention, tolerates all grooming, takes her meds well, has learned all about Courage’s 4 o’clock cookie routine very quickly.
I had several conversations with Beth via email and telephone, and a home inspection last week to make sure my home was fit for a bullie. I was overjoyed when I got the email from Beth informing me that I’d been approved to adopt, and Gorda was a good match!
Gorda’s foster mom, veterinarian Dr. Laura in St. Augustine FL, posted on facebook that she loves all humans but I was still a little worried. Having zero dog experience, I wasn’t sure I’d be capable of handling any severe aggression or anxiety issues.
I met Gorda this morning at the animal hospital where Dr. Laura works. I was absolutely amazed when Gorda immediately rolled over and exposed her belly to me for a bellyrub. What a sweet sweet dog she is! So friendly and submissive – not aggressive AT ALL! She’s everything I was hoping for in a bulldog and more. I also met Cheryl, a vet tech whom Gorda became particularly close to. It was an emotional time for everyone, they were happy to see Gorda get a home but I could tell everyone there was going to miss her (and understandably so).
After a few minutes of belly rubbin’ and a debrief from Dr. Laura, Gorda sat up to check me out.
She’s very responsive and comes when I call her. She walked nicely out to my car and before I even finished asking Cheryl how to get her into the car, Gorda jumped right in! What an EASY dog, I can’t get over this!!! She is so easy to love… it took me all of about 3 seconds for my heart to melt. <3
I had this stupid grin on my face pretty much the whole ride home, and I couldn’t stop talking to her and looking at her in the rear view mirror. I’m lucky I didn’t wreck!
Introducing her to the house was fun. I kept her on a leash at first and let her explore at her own pace while following behind. She wasn’t interested in the cats at all, but they followed her all over the place. The little blob peering around the couch in this photo is Powder, and of course you can see Casper all puffed up. Neither cat attacked Gorda, but they were very curious about her (and Cas was clearly worried). I assured both cats everything was going to be ok (and I truly think it will be once they get used to having Gorda around).
It’s so cute when she puts her legs back like this, haha!
Look at this sweet face! Her tongue often sticks out like this when she’s lying down.
Self-portrait with front-facing camera:
She gave me a big huge doggie smooch! I missed the photo by mere seconds.
What a happy dog!
She follows me everywhere. I was making lunch in the kitchen and she parked right there in front of the dishwasher until I was done.
Tonight at 7pm I’ll introduce her to Logan and Jacob. I can hardly wait – they are going to absolutely adore her!
BIG THANK YOU to Beth, Erica and everyone at Adopt-A-Bull Rescue, Dr. Laura, Cheryl and the staff at Animal Emergency Hospital St. Johns, all the fantastic people who donate their time or money to help nurse these beautiful creatures back to health. Looking forward to making great memories with our newest family member GORDA!!!! XOXOX
She is so cute! Glad to see she seems to be settling in easily already.
She seems like a great addition!