Poor dog. First he gets stabbed by a very cruel human, and then he gets abandoned by his family in his hour of need...and he's only 15 months old. I hope someone steps up for this pup.

Someone may have stabbed the dog defending themselves or their own pet. My senior-citizen neighbor was attacked by a neighbor's rottweiler last year. He had met the owner on walks for years and had congenial conversations. This congenial conversation was interrupted by a sudden and unprovoked attack. Thankfully the police arrived quickly and found no way but to shoot the dog to save my neighbor. This pit bull may have been innocent, or he may have been the aggressor. If you only go at this as animal cruelty, then someone who stabbed the dog to defend themselves will be reluctant to step forward. There may have been a reason.

Animals in fear and in pain usually show the worst of their personality and this dog looks pretty calm. If someone were defending themselves from a 'dangerous dog' then the next step should have been to call the police to protect the public. That does not appear to be the case. NOTE to owners: If you can't afford to take your pet to the vet, do not get one!

Agreed Esmarelda. And if the shelter sees or assesses aggression in the dog or temperament issues, it is noted. Agressive dogs are often put down or kept separately. The sad reality is that some owners feel like their dogs are disposable.

"The owner, who was unable to pay for the dog’s medical costs, turned Cane over to the shelter. Costs will be paid in part by the Fairfax County Animal Shelter and Friends of the Fairfax County Animal Shelter." So maybe one of the requirements of pet ownership should be pet medical insurance, then tax dollars for operating the Fairfax County Animal Shelter wouldn't be channeled towards paying for medical care for animals whose owners are medically indigent with regards to their pets. So here we are paying indirectly for the medical treatment of a pet for an owner that never figured that their animal might need expensive medical services. How about a national health care program for pets? Should prospective pet owners be required to show proof of insurance before being permitted to purchase or adopt a pet? Are there those that believe that owning a pet one of those guarantees under the constitution and there should be no government interference? Are there death panels deciding the outcomes of sick and injured animals at the shelters? Sound familiar?

The unfortunate thing here is the poor dog is the one suffering from an ignorant owner. More often than not a dogs personality is learned from their owners or inappropriate breeders but at the dogs expense. The ignorant owners often go unscathed and just get another dog. The breeders go on making 'blood money' off an animal that will not have any quality of life. Shameful.

Martin, puhleasse do not turn this into politics. Poor dog! Why don't you draw an analogy with a child? If we found a child stabbed and abadondoned, what would we do? Sadly, the Fairfax Shelter recently announced it would be euthanizing all owner surrenders. So, I guess they are going to be killing this poor victimized dog. Martin, are you going to raise a stink about your tax dollars being spent on FATAL PLUS, the poison they use to kill animals at the shelter? Well, the rest of us will be screaming that this dog should NOT be killed, and someone should step up and given him a home. Don't make animals the innocent victims of our political sickness. We make our lousy beds, and they have to lie in it. They are not pawns. They are not inanimate objects. They are living beings.

As an animal advocate my first concern is for the dog's suffering and abandonment. Having said that I must also point out that it is discrimination to assume Cane was stabbed because someone was defending themselves against him. That was assumed because of his breed which is ignorance in its purest form. Anyone even making that statement knows very little about the breed and should research the breed first instead of listening to shock-media-hype. I feel quite strongly that the owners of domestic animals should have to be certified to have a pet because at the root of the majority of problems when it comes to animals happens to be irresponsible owners...FACT.

Mhm - Mutts Matters is a dog rescue, we don't euthanize any dogs...We work in conjunction with shelters and other organizations to help save dogs on death row, strays on the street, and dogs in unsafe living conditions. Unfortunately, when the shelters get full, owner surrendered dogs are typically the first to be put down - sometimes regardless of temperament. There is a required hold period for dogs found as strays, but not for owner surrender dogs, so when the shelters run out of space, they have to make really tough decisions. This is why it is so important for folks to adopt from the shelters or dog rescue groups like Mutts Matters...You are not only saving that dog's life, but you are making room for the next pup in need. You can find every breed, shape, and size of pup through rescue, even purebred pups...It's the right thing to do.

mhm - Thank you for choosing to rescue! It's a good thing to do and you get an awesome dog too.

I'm sorry about your dog :( I found your story because today my dog had got stabbed in the neck 12 times... I hope you get your dog back!

That happened today actually :(