Amazing Dog Rescue Story Needs Happy Ending

Dogs found on the street, or in the woods, are almost always suffering from serious distress and illness. But this rescue story involves a dog more close to death, and suffering more, than any we’ve seen. The video below shows the story, but because it’s in Portuguese, and we need to find the dog a home anywhere, I’m providing the background here.

In February, in the forest of Rio de Janeiro, an older man who is essentially homeless heard a dog in the woods near where he was walking howling in pain and distress. He searched and found the dog, laying on his side, crying. The dog was so emaciated and full of infection that he could barely walk; had hideous sores all over his body, and had what can only be described as a huge, gaping hole in the side of his body unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Despite being homeless himself, this generous and selfless man was determined to try to save the dog. Without any plan, he tried to force the dog to walk with him to a road, and carried him part of the way. He finally got to a road, and we happened to pass by a few minutes later, and stopped when we saw the dog. The man said the dog was clearly close to death and asked us to get him medical care.

We immediately took the dog to an emergency animal clinic. The veterinarian said all the things they say when they want to gently but firmly prepare you for your sick dog to die. “There’s a grave risk to his life,” etc.

He stayed interned in the hospital for the next two weeks. For the first week, none of his blood work improved and they kept predicting he’d die, but then suddenly he began improving. He came to our house after being hospitalized almost two full weeks.

The dog slowly started gaining weight. It took the hole in his body almost three months to close. He’s now fully healthy: amazingly beautiful and graceful and fast. He looks and runs like a pointer.

He has an incredibly sweet disposition, gets along with every other dog, and has never been even slightly aggressive with any humans, including children.

But he’s clearly still somewhat traumatized. He still shows some fear and a lack of trust even around the humans he knows — he’ll sit in your lap one minute and then scamper away and hide the next — and gets a bit bullied by our other dogs. So we’ve concluded — very reluctantly — that he’d be better off being adopted by a person or family that has only a couple other dogs, or none, so that he can get the particularized attention and affection he needs.

Because of how calm and affectionate he is, he’d be a perfect pet for someone who doesn’t have the patience (or time) for caring for a wild puppy, or a family with small children who want a gentle dog. He’s about 3 or 4 years old.

We’ll get him to any place where the right person wants to adopt him. He’s now fully healthy and vaccinated. Finding the right home would be the perfect ending for this amazing dog story. Please contact me at Glenn.Greenwald@theintercept.com if you’re interested.