Bruno (Harley) update...

After spending more than a week in a kennel with the Bullieangels rescue, and being evaluated, Bruno has been adopted by a woman who has over twenty years experience with bulldogs in upstate New York. She'll work with him and get him over his fears, and she has deep pockets, and will call in behavioral specialists if needed.

Bruno, who has been given back his original Harley name (and I will refer to him as Harley in the rest of the article), was abused by his original owners. We suspected this, but the rescue confirmed it. He acted like he was just waiting to be beaten. He would cower in the corner, especially around men. That would suggest that his two attacks of me were triggered by fear, and probably also had to do with the testosterone that was still in his body after his neutering. The new owner is a sixty-five year old woman who lives alone, and only has a son-in-law who comes over from time to time. She'll limit his exposure to men until he can be rehabilitated.

That was two weeks ago... we haven't heard anything about him since, but we'll be checking on how he's doing soon. We assume he's adjusting to his new surroundings.

Harley came into our lives for a reason. We didn't realize it then, but it's now pretty clear that he came to us to help us appreciate our need to understand dog behavior and to help other dogs. Julie has an interest in becoming a dog trainer, and I don't know if that ever would have happened had not Harley came into our lives. And I also have an interest in it, too. I support her getting an education to become a trainer, and look forward to seeing her eventually shift to this new career.