Rescue dog success story

 

How we got our little guy

A rescue dog success story is one of the best things about having a rescue dog. We’ve rescued a few dogs over the years. Lucky, our chihuahua is one of those dogs.

Lucky came to us in really poor health. The shelter we got him from said he was thrown out of a car window and ran into someone’s garage. He had really bad teeth and was very thin. He also appeared to be elderly, maybe thirteen or so.

I had contacted the shelter asking them to contact me if they had a dog come in that was in need and going to be hard to place. Considering his health, the shelter thought Lucky fit that description, so they called me. He was going to be euthanized if I didn’t take him. So, of course, I agreed to adopt him.

The shelter arranged for Lucky to get his teeth taken care of, get his shots, and have him neutered since it turns out he was also intact. I picked him up a little later that day, a grumpy, hurting little guy.

From rescue to a family member

Our rescue dog success story didn’t look very promising at first. Since Lucky was in pain from all he’d been through, he was very grumpy and wanted to bite anyone who tried to touch him.

As he healed, he started realizing that we weren’t going to hurt him, so he got less defensive. Before long, he was his sassy self and wiggling his way into our hearts.

Now that he was home with us, it was time to help him gain some weight and get healthy. Aside from being thin, he didn’t seem to have any other health issues.

We fed him our home-cooked diet of rice, chicken, veggies, and cottage cheese. I imagine Lucky was glad that his teeth didn’t hurt anymore. Although they pulled 13 of his teeth, he didn’t seem to have any trouble eating.

Lucky; our rescue dog success story

Amazingly, Lucky didn’t seem to have any other injuries from his ordeal. Fortunately, since he didn’t seem to have any other health issues he improved quickly.

Looking at him now, you’d never be able to tell that he’d been in such sad shape. His coat is shiny. You can no longer see his ribs. And, unless you look closely, you can’t tell he’s missing any teeth. He runs, plays, and does zoomies like a youngster.

Lucky would like to think he rules the roost and the other dogs. The other dogs, even the big ones, humor him for the most part. And he has his person, our granddaughter. Whenever she’s around, he’s her constant companion. She calls him her chihuahua warrior. Considering everything, I’d say that’s true.

This is a great reason to rescue a dog. Read this post I wrote or this one from barkpost.com for other great stories and reasons to rescue dogs.

Do you have a rescue dog success story? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.