Abby the bodyboarding dog was adopted by my family after being rescued from a high kill shelter.
Thankfully, a worker at the shelter knew they needed to go the extra mile to save this sweet girl. The shelter worker called multiple animal rescues only to be told, they were at capacity and could not render assistance .however, the person never gave up on Abby. They finally called a shelter in New Jersey and asked if they could save Abby. The shelter explained that they could take her but they did not have the funds to provide transportation from the state where Abby resided to New Jersey, the shelter worker was elated and again went the “ extra mile” to save this sweet dog. The shelter worker arrived a caravan of people willing to drive a portion of the long trip! Each one of them took Abby a few hundred miles to meet up with the next volunteer until Abby met her final destination, her new life. A life that was free of physical abuse, starvation and neglect,
My family went to our local shelter, not knowing what dogs would be there,
Abby was in a kennel all alone. The only dog that was not barking, she had one toy, a beat up tennis ball. Abby would go to the end of her small kennel and release her beloved ball, as soon as the ball reached the end of kennel, she would go and retrieve it! Such a smart girl.
Instantly, my family knew she needed to be ours! Bringing her home was a heartbreaking realization. Abby would help when we would approach her too quickly, our vet explained the behavior was due to Abby anticipating pain. That was excruciating to know this sweet girl didn’t trust anyone.
Slowly we gained her trust. I mean, it was an extremely slow process:
Being a lab I know the breed LOVES water. Not Abby, she wanted no part of The pool, her spirit was completely broken.
Abby was not motivated by good as most dogs are. However, she was motivated by a ball. To help Abby gain confidence, I introduced Her to the bodyboard..I physically had to place her on the board. then threw her beloved ball into the pool, just out of her reach
Abby is so smart, she learned that by manipulating her weight, the board would move and she could get her ball.
Eventually she began jumping on the board.
Thank you for watching her video and reading her amazing story of resilience!