Maisy and Bear are what the shelter calls an “owner surrender.” An owner surrender is when people who buy or adopt dogs are unable, for one reason or another, to care for the dogs any longer, so they relinquish them to the shelter. For these two inseparable dogs, their life of neglect was a precursor to their life in the shelter. 
Maisy and Bear had lived in their owner’s backyard for years. They were probably tied up and forgotten. Food was tossed to them, but warmth and affection were not provided. Their lack of socialization was evident at the shelter. They didn’t know how to walk properly on a leash, they had never been inside a home, and they didn’t know how to react to people, making them even harder to adopt out.
Nevertheless, the local Los Angeles shelter spent months waiting and hoping for the two to be adopted. Maisy, the smaller of the two, was adopted three separate times but was returned each time. It was discovered that Maisy was injured. She had a pronounced limp, an old injury that was never tended to. Every time she returned to the shelter, she was reunited with her big brother, Bear, and they just went back to loving each other as though no time had passed between them.
Bear, a Pit Bull mix, was largely ignored. Trying to get both dogs adopted would be next to impossible. Like every dog at an overpopulated, underfunded shelter, time was working against them both.
Founder of Creature Kind Foundation, Helen Storey, saw Maisy and Bear’s profile and called the shelter begging the employees to hold the two until she could get there. She arrived just in time and pulled Maisy and Bear. Maisy went into surgery almost immediately and had her back leg fixed. She will always have a limp but is otherwise healthy and happy. An animal behaviorist works with them to break them out of their bad habits and guide them toward better behavior.
For the first time, Maisy and Bear got a taste of freedom and a real home. With Helen, they get to luxuriate on the sofa, take car rides, receive affection, and take walks — all activities that most animal lovers do with their dogs every day. For these two, it was foreign. Now that they know how it feels to be loved, they can’t get enough.
Maisy and Bear are now a part of Helen’s dog pack and she can’t imagine her life without them. Helen was not only their rescuer, she is now their mama and forever home.
Visit Creature Kind Foundation (website in construction) online to learn more or to donate, and like their Facebook page!
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