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Xena's story is a sad one, with a happy ending. She was born in CA from well bred parents. She was sold at 7 weeks to a professional sports figure in West Palm Beach Florida for an obscene amount of money. This guy was apparently traded to a Canadian team and gave the puppy to his housekeeper who gave it to a neighbor who gave it to a relative and so on. During this time we know she suffered both mental and physical abuse. Abuse, that even today she has not recovered from.
Xena had seven homes in her first year of life and travelled up the East Coast before ending up in a German Shepherd rescue in Ohio. I received the rescue call and never asked what breed she was. The GSD person used all the right names and I just assumed the dog was a fox terrier. Boy was I surprised when I saw Xena.
The GSD person begged me to take her as all the GSD's wanted to kill this strange creature. Poor Xena would not walk, she only slithered on the ground. As I was speaking to the people Xena literally formed a circle around my legs and just shook. I felt so bad that I agreed to take her. I had no idea what she was or how this was going to sort out. The most amazing thing was that she had every piece of paper, including the original credit card receipt for her purchase and vet visits.
Once at home, my terriers felt the need to kill her, but the harriers, especially the dominant bitch were intrigued with her. I turned her out with the hounds to learn how to be a dog. Xena immediately bonded to the dominant bitch and they become inseparable. The rest was just time and slow work. Xena is still deathly afraid of certain types of men but her progress has been astounding. She has been to a few UKC shows and always drew a crowd when she accompanied us to AKC shows. She decides who will get the privilege to touch her and who "is not worthy". Through all this she has never been aggressive to a human. She is definitely flight not fight. She is dog aggressive though and hates smooth fox terriers (that is a long story).
All in all, she has been a challenge that was well worth it. She is with us and will never need to find another home.
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