I went out to one of the vans one late morning and happened to glance across the street. I saw a white dog in the parking lot of the business across the street. It’s a huge parking lot and there weren’t many cars there, but this little one was darting around the parking lot. It was so far away, I couldn’t tell what kind of dog it was, but I grabbed a slip lead and ran across the street. Mike was down walking dogs and he ran across the street too. Teri grabbed some treats and ran over. This little one was so scared. Now that we were up close, we could see what terrible shape he was in. He was very thin, his skin was red and he was missing a lot of hair. He looked lost and miserable. But, of course, he was too frightened to come to us. We were tossing treats and he was obviously hungry but he was not going to get too close to us! This little guy had obviously not been treated very well.
Well, we all spent the next 1/2 hour trying to catch this boy! He ran around behind the big strip mall. A couple of us continued on foot and a couple of us ran back and got our cars. He looked like he needed help so badly, we were determined to get him. He ran up onto a side street behind the stores and began smelling and running through the front yards. We were in pursuit and were looking for a fenced back yard that we could herd him into. The houses are pretty close together over there and he ran between two houses. However, both of those houses had fenced yards and closed gates, so when he got himself in between, we finally had him kind of cornered. We all got down low and spread our arms out as big as we could to create a barrier for him. I went forward with a slip lead, talking softly to him. He was just sitting there, trembling-like he just had given up. I put the slip lead over him and we had him! Now we could help this little guy. We caught him on Hunter street, so Teri named him Hunter. He was actually some kind of little mixed breed hunting dog. He was adorable! What a hard life he’d had-we could see it in his eyes. He was scared and shy and hungry!
We got Hunter to the vet. He was loaded with fleas and tapeworms. His skin was terribly irritated by the fleas. We got him back to Chain of Hope, gave him a medicated bath and started his antibiotics. We would give him a couple of weeks before getting him neutered. We put him in the senior room with Abby and friends and he settled in. He was very nervous at first. He had lots of anxiety for the first week or so. Eventually he began to get into our routine and also to play with some other dogs. He began to heal, emotionally and physically. When he first came in, he would not make eye contact very often and he kept his head down a lot. and his tail tucked. What a difference that love can make!
Hunter finally went in to be neutered. We were still fighting the tapeworms-he was incredibly infested, poor boy. As we got that under control, Hunter began filling out. He was already cute, but he just kept getting cuter and cuter. His hair started growing in and he turned into a happy dog!
After being with us for 2 months and now finally healthy, Hunter was recently adopted! We are very grateful to Emily for giving Hunter his forever home. Of course, she’s blessed as well because Hunter is such a great dog! Could his smile be any bigger? Look how happy he is!
Hunter has been through a lot, but he is finally home! Thank you for your support to help dogs like Hunter heal and have a happy life!
