Red Dog, here.  I have a big smile in the picture here, but I wasn't always smiling. 

My human rescued me from a Reserve in Canada.  I was kicked out of my home because I wasn't a cute puppy anymore (hey, I think I'm still pretty handsome for a three year old!)  When I say 'kicked out of my home' I mean that literally.  I have been kicked, punched and nearly had my legs broken by humans on the Reserve, even though I'm a pretty mellow guy. I've never bitten anyone.  Neither have my doggie friends.  We had all been left to fend for ourselves in the subzero weather.  Some of us did better than others.  My friend Shadow wasn't so lucky.  He was torn apart by other dogs, who were driven crazy by lack of food and constant abuse.  I found a vacant house with a porch to live under with my shaggy friend.  We would sneak out at night to find food in trash cans, ditches, anywhere we could.  Sometimes the nurses and teachers would leave scraps out for us.  We had to be careful and hide during the day, because that's when the DOG SHOOTERS come out!  They get paid to kill us, you see.  We could hear some of our dog friends screaming in pain as they died.  It still gives me nightmares, and my humans try to comfort me when I whimper in my sleep.  I am learning to trust these humans, but it's been difficult because I expect them to hit me any minute......I can't believe I get food every day, and have a warm bed now. I even learned to play ball!  Wow.  I didn't know they were toys! 

I can still remember those freezing cold nights outside, with my friend Fuzzy to snuggle up to.  We were slowly starving to death (and freezing). I was a sad sight when my humans took me & Fuzzy away from the Reserve.  My ribs were sticking out and my fur - yuck, it was scraggly and dull.  Fuzzy was even more of a mess!  But he has a good home now.  He says he's getting used to baths.  But he hates those bows in his ears!

We used to chase the crows to get their food!  Sometimes I still do that for fun. And sometimes we were so hungry, we'd steal lunches from the schoolkids.  Then the people on the Reserve would get angry and there would be more shootings.