Charlie

This is Charlies story ❤️

This boy broke our hearts from the very first moment we saw his scared little eyes looking at us from the photo, those empty and dull eyes will haunt us forever.

Those eyes belong to a border collie x cattle dog called Charlie who is 3 years old.
Charlie has never had a life.
Right from the moment he was born, it's like the world had it out for him.
All of Charlies litter mates were quickly sold off by the time they were 8 weeks old. All except Charlie who was the one left behind. So off to the pound he went, his owner discarding him like a bag of rubbish when he couldn't make any money from his sale.
At just 8 weeks old, Charlie was surrendered to the pound.

It was only a matter of weeks before Charlie found himself on the euthanasia list. ( something that is always fast tracked when an animal is surrendered)

This was when a local lady who I do believe had her heart in the right place to begin with, heard about all the innocent dogs facing euthanisation and decided it was up to her to save them from an early death so she had them released into her care, only to take them home and lock them away in crates and cages on her property because in her eyes,
anything is better than death.
But is it?
Charlie had been caged at the pound since he was just a baby at 8 weeks old, sadly that was not going to change now.

Instead of being caged at the pound, Charlie was now caged on an isolated rural property, along with dozens of other dogs, and that's how he will spend the next 3 long years of his life.
During this time, Charlie missed out on crucial developmental things like socialisation and exercise amongst other things, things that are crucial to puppies developmental well being .

For the next 3 years , Charlies only interaction he had with anyone at all was a few minutes per day when it was dinner time. Once that bowl was on the ground, she was gone. And that's all Charlie had in the way of socialisation.

When Charlie came into our care, he didn't know how to interact with people, didn't know how to fetch a ball, how to roll around in the grass or to chase butterflies. Walk on a leash, He didn't know what a belly rub felt like or what it felt like to run free in the paddocks all around him playfully chasing the dozens of other dogs who just like Charlie,... Sat in their caged prisons, merely exsisting.

Sadly it took 3 years for anyone to become aware of this and when we heard we immediately jumped into action and bought as many to safety as we could. We managed to find Charlie a fantastic foster carer as well as save a handful of other dogs from the same property . The other dogs were timid but soon reverted back to their normal happy selves relishing in their new found freedom, but Charlie.. , he had never had freedom in his life like the other dogs did. He didn't know what it was so even in care, he chose the safety of his crate to remain in for what felt like weeks. ... he was and still is absolutely terrified of everything and anything. It was so heartbreaking to watch

That was 8 weeks ago now. And Charlie has gone from a dog that wouldn't leave his crate under any circumstance
To a dog who is now doing zoomies around the back yard! It's amazing.
Through patience, love and understanding, his foster carers were able to finally see some inprovement.

This transformation occurred when Charlie was able to start interacting with his carers senior dog.. He would get so excited just at the sight of him. I guess being caged next to dozens of other dogs for years and suddenly being able to actually play with a dog. Gave Charlie a joy he has never experienced in his whole life
Dogs were what he saw everyday in his prison years, now he can interact with them he has never been happier.
He is still frightened of people but dogs are his new found joy

he has made such terrific progress in such a short time with thanks to his amazing foster carer but we now feel it's time he found his forever home to settle in to as this is going to be a very long process and for every day he spends at his carers home, the more comfortable he will become and the more harder it will be for him when he does get adopted and need to leave.

We believe it's best to find him that special home now before attachment gets too great and even though, he isn't emotionally ready to be rehomed as yet, the length of time it will take for this to happen will truly make it impossible for him to leave there after all that time.
This is what his lovely foster family had to say about Charlie

Charlie adoption ♥️🐾

Charlie came into our world 9 weeks ago a broken terrified soul. Iv never experienced a dog like him, iv never cried so much for a foster dog in my life.
Today Charlie is a different dog.
Although still extremely scared of lots of things, noises and people, every day we see improvement and he is a lot more comfortable knowing his life is way better than it was.
Charlie is super dog friendly and his face and spirit lights up when he is with our old dog Spike. Charlie wants to play and interact all the time, but sadly our dog is too old to give Charlie the play he is looking for. They are great buddies and hang out constantly. Charlie is more relaxed and happy when in the company of his doggy friend.
Charlie is scared of ppl when standing up, but sit down with your dog & he will happily come trotting over! He knows his name, and will come towards you when you call him, he knows when it’s breakfast & dinner time and will be there waiting....
Charlie is also now brave enough to come inside our house, loves to sniff and explore so long as the humans are sitting down.... still not sure about the tv....
Charlie loves his toys and will happily lay on his bed with his favourite chew toys, a plastic frisbee, and kongs.
Charlie is an adorable placid cheeky little rascal and we absolutely love him, we pray he finds a beautiful person/family to continue his journey with him and help him become the absolute best version of himself he can be.
That was written by the only people that Charlie has ever known, such a heartfelt and beautiful post. ❤️

So we are now on the hunt for that very special family who will help Charlie rise from his past torment and learn how to be a normal domesticated, confident dog that he should be.
This will not be easy and this will not be something that will happen quickly
This could take months, if not years to conquer
Charles family will need to
✔️ have alot of patience
✔️ be prepared to have a dog who will run away from them instead of to them., a dog who they can see wants so badly to interact with them but doesn't know how to.
A dog who wants to play but is unsure what that is and a dog who has had his spirit broken so badly, he is only a shell of the dog he is capable of being.

His new family will need to
✔️want to help him, to show him what it's like to love and be loved and
✖️won't give up on him during this slow transition from the only sad and lonely life he has ever known to that of normal dog living a, normal life. And most importantly,
✔️Charlies new home must have a dog.
A patient, well balanced dog who will help Charlie learn all there is to learn about how to be a dog and one who is gentle enough not to scare him away but who Charlie can trust as that's one thing that brings Charlie to happiness when ever he sees one, is a dog.
His new family need to be
fully aware that in applying to adopt Charlie
✔️ they are committing to a very long and difficult