God bless you for this act of incredible kindness. Compassionate conservatism at its finest. :)

If you end up in court, hopefully she'll chomp the person who did it.

I'm touched. Really.

I'm touched too. In the head.

ROTFL

Dang, Donnah! I knew there was a reason I liked you, beyond your being a smart Cracker! :-)
I'm so happy! For you and for Lilly, and because I don't have to worry about her any more. Her situation was bothering me.

My advice (although I know you've had dogs before):
lots of white cow's hooves (the black ones stink pretty bad), Bouda bones, and those wooly plush things she can tear the guts out of. And give her an old unwashed t-shirt or a pair of your old unwashed underwear to sleep with. It sounds weird, but I swear that helps them bond to you.

Keep us updated. And post pictures, please! Email me if you need moral support. I'll be happy to provide it in any way I can. Also, I've got an airline crate for a BIG dog that you can borrow for a while, if you need it. I live in Tampa, so it wouldn't be too hard to hook up.

Her situation was bothering me too, which is why I went and got her. I'll post some pics tomorrow.
She's getting a professional, industrial-strength scrubbing tomorrow. I'll hit Pets Mart while that's going on. I gave her a little bath yesterday, but that just teased the stank.

I'll take you up on that moral support, Amy.

She *finally* crashed.

I got freaking nowhere crate-training little Shiloh. Did it work for you?

You're a peach.

How is Shiloh taking all this?

Shiloh says "Don't let the door hit you in the ass, Lilly."

Mark held off on us getting a dog because of the potential for Shiloh's objection. I'm artificially enforcing the doggy hierarchy (Shiloh enters the house before Lilly, etc) until things gel. Lilly's hindquarters may be shriveled, but if she can get you up close, she's got alot of upper-body strength, and a long snout filled with big teeth.

Crate training is "the bomb" as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to sound, like, snotty or self-righteous when I say this, but for crate training to be effective it has to be consistent. I don't know your routine with Shiloh, but most people I've seen who don't have good luck with crate training think it's "cruel" to leave a dog in such a small space for a protratcted period of time and thus don't make it a consistent habit. Personally, I don't think it's cruel at all...it gives the dog a place that is "their own" to get at a time when they may be feeling vulnerable, and it keeps them out of such mischief such as chewing electrical cords, your furniture, your other belongings, etc. while you're away. The crate has to be comfy, though...big enough for the dog to stand up and turn around in, and it needs a thick pad, or a couple of blankets that you don't care about them getting torn up (they might get chewed), plus at least four "sanctioned" things to chew on and mess with. Oh, yeah, put an unwashed t-shirt of your and maybe a pair of unwashed underwear wherever Lilly will sleep. It sounds weird, but I swear it helps dogs bond to you. If you get a crate or take me up on my offer, your t-shirt and/or underwear should go in the crate, too.

Another upside to crate training is that it almost always helps a dog get control of its bladder and sphincter. Most dogs don't want to pee and poop where they're going to be laying, so they hold it until they can get out of the crate. I don't advocate leaving a dog in a crate or ANYWHERE for more than 6 hours without access to relieve themselves in a sanctioned place, so if you guys work maybe you can have a neighbor come over and let Miss Lilly out and put her back in. Even if you're home all day, it might be a good idea to put the crate in your bedroom and leave her in there for a few hours a day, with the bedroom door shut. And it would probably be good for Lilly if she slept at night in the crate (on top of your t-shirt or underwear) in the bedroom with you. Sleeping together is a pack activity.

I hope some of this advice helps a little. It worked on my dog, but I also know every dog is different, and when Lulu came to me she was a tiny puppy with no long-standing behavior problems. She also hadn't been cooped up on a lead in a backyard for so long that the collar grew into her neck, either. GRRRRRRRRRRRR.

But Lulu's the best dog in the world now...she's eight years old and never destroyed anything of mine except one t.v. remote (I believe this is because she always had so much stuff of her own she never had to go to mine), and (this infuriates my neighbors) I don't even have to walk her on a leash. Even if there's another dog across the street, she won't go over there unless I say she can.

Sorry for hoggin' all the bandwidth. I'm just so excited for you and Miss Lilly I can't help myself. ;-) I hope everything goes okay. I used to work in an animal emergency clinic, so I've seen a lot of abused and very weird dogs. None of the ones who weren't anti-social (which Miss Lilly obviously isn't) had behavior problems that couldn't be overcome with patience, consistency, and a lot of love. I've seen the metamorphosis happen too many times in what would seem to be hopeless cases to not believe you and Lilly are going to be just fine.

If you want, email me with your email address so I don't have to take up your bandwidth if I start to ramble on again. :-)

BTW, just wanted to add that crating a dog isn't forever...just until they learn house manners. For the first 7-8 months I had Lulu she stayed crated at night (in the bedroom with me) and during the day when I was gone. Then I started letting her out at night (still in the room with me, room door shut, crate door open in case she wanted in it) and for short periods during the day when I was gone. I gradually lengthened the daytime out-of-crate periods until it became obvious that the crate wasn't needed any more, although I left the crate in my room for a while just in case she ever wanted to get in it. But it's been in the shed for about 6 years now.

Lulu currently sleeps on my bed and on her doggie bed in my room...she starts out at night on my bed but is paws-up on her own by morning. She doesn't even have any callouses on her elbows because she's never had to lay on anything hard enough to give her callouses. ;-)

My point here is not how great Lulu is (although I am proud of her), it's that I feel crate training is very effective and can't recommend it enough. Especially for a dog that has known behavior problems you want to modify.

God bless you, Donnah!

OK, Amy, I got the crate and a nice lamby-type bed.
We're all kind of relieved because Monday is too soon for her to have the run of the house while we're gone.
Plus, I've been sleeping on the floor with her and it'll be nice to get back to my own bed.