When animal rescue organisation Tierschutzverein Minden und Umgebung e.V. received a call on the evening of 24 April, they could tell it was an urgent case.
The caller was a lady, who had just brought home a 5-month-old German Shepherd puppy. After just one day with the dog, she wanted to give it up for adoption.
Just the beginning
Shockingly, this statement was only the beginning of a story that nobody could ever have expected.
The lady claimed that since bringing the puppy home, it had bitten her resident dog, her cat, and her child. And she wanted him out of her house immediately.
No matter how much the rescue tried to reason with her, she insisted she had to bring him in that same night, eventually turning up on the premises and leaving the dog behind.
The caring team settled the puppy in for the night, and booked an appointment with their veterinarian for the next day.
More to the story
The puppy's owner claimed she had bought him on a popular online listing site for €420. He was reportedly 5 months old, vaccinated, and microchipped.
But once with the rescue's vet, an entirely different story started to emerge.
The puppy was not 5 months old, as the lady had been led to believe. He was 3.5 months old and hadn't yet been microchipped.
The poor pup had been dealt a very difficult hand at such an important stage in his development, and it had clearly taken its toll on his behaviour.
While he tolerated handling at the vets, he had some very strong feelings about the vet nurses' feet, and a 9-month-old puppy he met at the shelter, reacting strongly and trying to bite.
"What this little guy has gone through, whether he was taken from his mum too early or poorly socialised, we will never know", writes the rescue. "What is clear is that he now needs a devoted, dog-experienced home".
