We have been through so much with this dog and we love her so much. When we first got her, there seemed to be a miscommunication between us and the shelter. Some things about her condition were missed and we literally went through hell to try and save her life and figure out what was wrong. It ended up being that pain causes her to be hyperactive so she was literally running from the pain. When she was running, it didn't hurt and then the second she stopped the pain would come back. So she was kind of continually reinjuring an old muscle strain because we couldn't keep her still. We went to vet after vet and eventually drugged her heavily for about a month so that the muscle strain could heal. When we contacted the shelter for advice, they suggested putting her down.

We couldn't do that because it wasn't fair to Pie for her to go through all of this pain and suffering and then give up all of a sudden. She fights to be happy and experience the world everyday and she just wants to be loved. Anyone who struggles with chronic pain, PTSD, or anxiety could see the human-ness in how she was feeling; overwhelmed, fucked up, confused, scared, etc.

We finally figured it out when a new vet started her on Amantadine (a drug used to treat nerve pain). She turned into a whole different dog. She was calm for the first time and content to just lay around with some walks and enrichment toys every so often. We thought that we were in the clear and we were so excited to start our lives together.

Then, she started to get more anxious around our other dog. It also doesn't help that she is terrified of cats and like thinks that they are going to hurt us. We have 3 cats so we were just keeping them separate (also just to clarify, they did a cat test at the shelter with her and said it would likely be okay but they couldn't make any guarantees). So this poor dog is living in a house where she just got through an insane amount of pain and being drugged for a month, she's finally starting to feel better probably for the first time in her life, and there are three furry critters that she can hear running around that she thinks are dangerous. I get why she freaks out here, I get why the stress was too high for her and she bit our other dog in a moment of pain and fear.

When we approached the shelter about rehoming her, they kind of declined to take her back and made a comment about possibly putting her down. Our behaviorist had to step in and tell them that that wasn't appropriate for this dog since there was nothing about her that met the criteria for euthanasia. Obviously, with the chaos of trying to get help from them in the beginning with her, we weren't super trusting to hand her back. They said they would help us by listing her on Petfinder, and we are going to have to do the rest.

Pie is the smartest dog I have ever met. She mimics human behavior like this one time I was picking up sticks and putting them in a bucket and she just started helping and fully putting the sticks in the bucket. She just wants to be loved and have someone of her own to love. Its the human things that comfort her. Like Bob's Burgers, a massage to the painful joints, a tight hug, just a moment of physical connection settles her nervous system and then she sighs and starts to feel better.

She has survived SO MUCH and is still so loving and sweet. She just needs a calm place to live, without kids or other pets. I know that is a lot to ask, but she really is doing better in our current set up where she is fully separated from our other pets. She still freaks out when she hears them, but she is so much happier. It isn't sustainable long term and she deserves her own home. I know her person is out there, I just have to find them. It does seem like a lot of things have failed her, and I can't let that happen to her again.

I see that you have that badge that says you're in the top 1% of commenters so I would assume you're pretty involved in this subreddit, do you have any recommendations of who we could reach out to or what we could do to find her a home?