This story was submitted to Trax’s Pack by Blair Givens. You can read about Trax and his story in Fool’s Bluff.

Before my family adopted our sweet Lab/Rottie mix she was under weight and slipping into depression at the local pound. She had reached a point where she had stopped eating, and stopped wanting out to even do her business. All she did was lay in the corner motionless.

Volunteers of the pound were sharing her picture like crazy trying to find her a home. It was when a friend of mine shared her pic that I finally saw it.

My daughter and I went down to the pound that day that I first saw her picture, sadly a few minutes before closing. I just wanted to see her in person. I knew in just those few minutes…she was going to be ours.

I told the staff that we would be back the following morning to sign papers. The way the pound was doing it was a foster to adopt program. This way if the dog does not work out, there were no strings attached. Though after three days my family was back at the pound making it official.

Our sweet Ember went from being 53lbs, every bone showing, to 80lbs in 3 weeks of being with us. On August 13th of this year we celebrated Ember’s 2 year gotcha day anniversary.

And now even my own depression symptoms are not as bad. Ember completes our family.

And this is the pic the pound was sharing to get her a home. Definitely a big difference now as to then.

They said they had some how managed to coax her out to the play yard for this pic to be taken. Tricked her with treats. Lol

I have loads of photos of Ember. Not much history on her though. Only what we assume or think might have happened to her based on how she used to act or react to things. Like she doesn’t like men too much.

It took a while for her to warm up to our neighbor. And for a while after we got her she used to flinch or cower when we would go to pet her. So we think she may have been abused by a man.And she is really protective of me. Aggressively so. So perhaps the man abused his wife too, dunno.

And I think he ditched Ember somewhere by using food. Cause she won’t eat her food unless I stand out nearby to where she can see me. If I go in the other room she comes running after me like she is afraid she is being abandoned again. Though this is slowly going away. A few times she has gone in, gotten a mouthful, ate it quick then came running back in.

And she is hesitant around new/strange people. Also sometimes has issues with other dogs. Not all of them, just a few. I can’t say she is breed specific, or sex specific, just depends on the dog itself.

This one I just took. She had a bath a couple hours ago and feels all spiffy.

Took her camping with us to Hocking Hills for my daughter’s 16th birthday.

But she is still slowly opening up, and becoming a little bit more trusting. Just gonna take her a little while. Which is fine with me. She can take all the time she needs to feel right as rain again. I’m not going anywhere, and neither is she.

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