Red
Dog belonged to a destitute family of seven who had moved into an
abandoned shack next door to us. They didn't have enough to feed Red
nor themselves either. After about a week, they suddenly
disappeared one night and never came back. They left Red tied on
a short lead to a tree without food or water. He howled and
barked in misery. We gave him food and water, of course, but by
the forth day with no sign of his family, it was just too painful to
see him suffer like this. We untied him and brought him home to live
with us.
He
was skin and bones but ate like a horse and began to gain weight and
grow taller immediately. He was ridden with parasites and we gave
him a worming shot the first day. Mindy who was a science major
said he had enough different kinds of parasites to supply a
parisitology class with lab materials for a full semester.
Red
was just as starved for attention and snuggling with us and wiggled his
way into our hearts in short order! He still thinks he is a little lap
dog, and nothing will persuade him to the contrary. Our other
dogs quickly accepted Red and he became one of the gang almost from the
start. No one barks with more excitement when it's time for a
walk than Red. He and our youngest dog, Tyson, became best buds
and play so beautifully together. See fun video of them.
About three weeks after we had adopted Red, his old family showed up and asked if we had seen their dog. Red was standing right next to us. The mother said in astonishment, "Is THAT our dog"?! after we pointed out Red to them. He had nearly doubled his weight and size by then. They asked if we would adopt him and continue to care for him. "Yeah, FOR SURE" we answered. They said they did love Red but admitted they just could not afford to feed or care for him properly. They thanked us, and there were some hugs and tears before they left.