In Memory of Oscar

My Story

Oscar came to SAINTS several years ago. He originally came from a good home, had been there loved and cared for since a small puppy. But at 4 months of age, Oscar was already biting, and not in play. His original name was Oliver and by the time he was 4 years old he was literally a menace. With a new baby on the way, the family surrendered him to a trainer in the hopes that his issues could be worked out and a suitable home found. After a couple of months, the trainer deemed Oliver non rehabbable... I believe her actual words were..’he’s crazy.”

And so Oliver was kicked out of Alberta and shipped to BC to become our newest broken saint. I am going to be honest, none of us liked him. He was a total vicious jerk. Luckily he was little which meant although he might continually puncture, he wasn’t likely to kill any of us.

The first 2 priorities were A) to keep us and Oliver safe and B) to find some way to love this biting little monster.

I changed his name to Oscar the Grouch and it worked, it made him more endearing. As much as he is a total pain in the butt…all of us totally adore him (albeit from a safe distance.)

Several years later, Oscar still does not like to be touched and he will turn into a raging demon if anyone lays any hands on him to provide any kind of care. This means we heavily sedate him at home several times a year to transport him into the vets for full knocked out sedation for grooming, exams, ear and eye cleaning. We ordered special kevlar (bullet proof) gloves for when we absolutely do have to handle him and he still bites through them!

Now Oscar is perfectly happy (as long as no one is goofing around with him.) He hangs out with the MP dogs, goes for walks, runs in the fields and occasionally still manages to attacks someone's feet but we all wear thick shoes in his vicinity. We feel badly having to sedate him several times during the year tho but he has to have at least some basic physical care.