We tend to name our dogs for something special. We rescued Annie on our first anniversary hence her name Annie. She was about a year and a half when we found her in a shelter on Long Island. She was cowering in a run when she stole our hearts. I asked about her history and was told that she was taken from a home where the owners tried to make a fighting dog out of her by beating her to the point they cracked her hip. The owners were arrested. She would not fight; it is not a breed trait.

The shelter did not think she was adoptable. We wanted to try. The staff brought Annie, who was still being called “Mauler” in the greeting room where she sat in the farthest corner. I lay down on the floor in the middle of the room and waited. She crawled over after about 20 minutes and sniffed me. She let me touch her after about another 10 minutes. The staff was amazed, for she had never done that before to anyone who was interested in her. We lay on the floor together for another 15 minutes or so before they took her back to her run. We wanted her.

We talked to the director and told her of our dog history and the dogs we owned, whippets (another sad to good story). She asked us to bring the whippets to see Annie.
We had, by this time, named her. We were fairly close to the shelter and came back with in an hour, whippets in tow. Annie perked right up when she saw the whippets and we took her for a trial over night. She never went back, except to visit.

We had Annie for another 10 years (a mastiff’s normal life span being 6 to 10). She moved from Long Island to Massachusetts and to Oregon. Annie was top dog of her pack until she passed from old age. We were happy to find her, love her and finally get to enjoy her life and ball.

Dennis from NJ