Queen is an 8 year old American staffordshire terrier. Her story is LONG, and involves animal abuse--you have been warned.

I first met Queen in 2019, after my brother-in-law rescued her. She had been posted online for free, as an "unspayed, aggressive, pit bull."

My bro-in-law's girlfriend says something urged her to meet Queen in person--so that's what she and bro-in-law did.

The man who had Queen, told them she had been bred many times. Her original owner was a backyard breeder. This woman had kept Queen locked in a kennel almost 24-7, just wanting to make money off the litters of pups. Her boyfriend would regularly beat Queen.

The breeder decided she didn't want Queen anymore--we don't know why. The man who had her was a relative. We don't know how long he had Queen, but clearly he mistreated her too. He claimed he was a "dog trainer", but insisted that Queen was an awful dog, very aggressive, and he wanted to be rid of her.

According to my bro-in-law's girlfriend, Queen seemed desperate to get away from Mr. "Dog Trainer". She wanted to go with them, and leapt eagerly into their car.

When they got Queen home, it became clear she WASN'T aggressive, just terrified. She was underweight, and she refused to eat with people around. She snarled at other dogs over food--but with people, she just froze up and tried to make herself small. Even alone, she would eat as fast as possible, with her tail clamped firmly between her legs.

Certain kinds of men terrified her. Men with beards, men who moved too quickly, men who spoke loudly.

And she had nightmares. Horrible nightmares. I've never heard a dog scream before. She'd have the usual twitches and grunts of sleeping--but then she'd just start screaming. It wasn't a whimper or a howl, it was a scream. You had to shake her to wake her up.

My brother-in-law lost his apartment in 2020, and spent a few weeks couch-surfing with whoever would take him. He'd never had enough money to get Queen spayed--she got pregnant off a relative's dog. That's where my husband and I come in.

My husband and I had just bought a house. We took bro-in-law, his family, and Queen with us, to help them get on their feet. Bro-in-law was working overtime and his girlfriend was struggling, so my husband and I managed Queen through her pregnancy, raised her 7 pups, and found them homes (we kept one).

Brother in law eventually moved out, and took Queen with him, but his struggles continued. He had to bring Queen back to us when he couldn't feed or house her. In 2023, he realized he couldn't keep her, and surrendered her to us permanently.

In the past year, we got her spayed and have worked on her issues with food. She's been happy--the nightmares are rare. She and her adult puppy are best friends.

Buuut, Queen seems to be prone to misfortune, and in July we noticed a mosquito bite sized tumor on her elbow. By September, the tumor had grown much larger and sent out tentacles wrapping around her shoulder. We took her to the vet, and they knew it was cancer. One biopsy and a couple X-rays later, it was determined that the cancer--a soft tissue sarcoma--hadn't spread beyond that tumor, but she needed an amputation ASAP.

Currently, she is 5 days post-op and doing great. It took her 3 days to figure out her balance, and now she's back to normal. She is annoyed that we won't let her jump on the furniture, or go for a walk, and she DETESTS wearing a cone--but she likes being fed baked chicken and squash. Once she gets her stitches out, we are starting her on metronomic therapy.

I REALLY hope the cancer doesn't come back. She is an angel--the most well-behaved and gentle dog I've ever owned. After all the crap she's endured, she deserves a luxurious retirement. Below is a picture of her (dark brindle) and her pup.