After enduring a life of suspected torture and abuse, it is a miracle Falkor the rescue dog has managed to survive, let alone thrive.
But that’s exactly what this inspirational family pet is accomplishing today.
His challenging life – plagued by countless painful injuries – may even have included being allegedly involved in dog fighting.
The Bull Arab mastiff’s rescuers, Troy and Danielle (who asked to only use their first names), said his road to rehabilitation has been a rocky one.
About three years ago, Danielle found Falkor sitting on their back deck of their Sunshine Coast home.
“He was a huge dog but very skinny and malnourished, he didn’t look good at all,” Danielle said of their sudden and unexpected visitor.
“I put some food out and posted on the (Facebook) community board that there was a dog here.
“Then I noticed these huge open tears on his underside and cuts and things all over him; I thought he might have ripped himself up on a fence.”
But before their visitor could be taken to the 24hr vet, Danielle received a message from Falkor’s owners. When they came to collect him, the couple learned his heartbreaking back story.
They heard how Falkor had, in a past life, allegedly been groomed as a bait dog for dog fighting.
“… his ear has been cut off and they kicked out all of his teeth – he’s only got a few back teeth left,” Danielle said.
“(But) … he wouldn’t attack anybody, he doesn’t have one ounce of violence in him.”
The couple were told Falkor was taken in by new owners, but when they could no longer afford to feed him, he ended up with their neighbours, who in turn gave him over to them.
“Falkor could have taken off but he always came to our back deck and sat on the chairs waiting for us,” Danielle explained.
Their new pet had a chequered past.
“When his abusers took off, they left him with two or three other dogs, and they all got into a neighbouring property,” she said.
“The farmer shot the other dogs because they were attacking his livestock.
“But the farmer said he couldn’t shoot Falkor because he wasn’t attacking his cattle and kept looking up at him with his big brown eyes.”
When he was rescued from the property, north of the Sunshine Coast, Danielle said Falkor weighed about eight kilograms, and was “covered in” slashes and burn marks.
“He had no energy and was traumatised,” she said.
“He couldn’t stand up on his back legs and couldn’t go to the toilet properly.”
But even in his condition, the couple said he had a caring temperament about him.
Later they discovered the tears were cancerous sun ulcers – believed to have been caused by being chained outside in the sun for long periods of time.
Since rescuing him, Troy said they had paid for Falkor to have $22,000 worth of surgeries.
He currently weighs 35 kilograms and is now a fully trained assistance dog.
“After one of the surgeries, he had incontinence, so Danni slept on the couch in the lounge room for three months to help him,” Troy said.
“Now he can only eat Hill’s biome biscuits due to his stomach.”
As part of his new life, the couple took him to the beach for the first time and taught him how to play, which took about six months.
“We didn’t hear him make a happy bark or noise for about nine months,” Troy said.
“We couldn’t leave him alone for two minutes because of his anxiety.
“For him to go from that to an assistant dog is pretty incredible.”
It was his caring temperament that led the couple to train him as an assistant dog.
“We take him to the vet, cats jump off the table and rub against him,” Troy said.
“Everywhere we go – and we take him everywhere with us – for some reason people walk past and they just stop and ask if they can say, ‘Hello’.”
The couple agreed that taking in dogs from a shelter or rescue dogs should be determined on a case-by-case basis, based on the dogs’ needs and the rescuers’ capabilities.
“I want people to know that Bull Arab mastiffs are not dangerous dogs – we are in a lot of online community groups, and they are the friendliest dogs,” Troy said.
“Everyone says he’s blessed to have us, but I think we are blessed to have him.”
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