We love our precious puppies so much that it’s hard to understand that someone would intentionally hurt their dog. But that was once a reality for a southern Husky mix named the Willow.
Once chained and blatantly unwanted and inhumane abuse, this beautiful girl is now living her best life, being trained to be a service dog, and will be paired with a veteran with PTSD.
Willow’s story begins like so many others. She was once the victim of unimaginable cruelty to animals intentionally perpetrated by her owners.
But fortunately for her, these intentional acts were witnessed and reported to the authorities who could step in and save her. Someone saw that she was chained and left outside alone, and that she was starved to the point of being like a walking skeleton. The fact that she’s so thin that she can’t even stand is a surprise.
After her circumstances and medical condition were reported, Murray County Animal Shelter director Julie Wynn teamed up with the police to not only step in and save her, but also have her former owner arrested and charged with animal cruelty.
“The interesting part for me is that they picked her up on Thursday. Monday morning, the judge was sworn in and he was arrested on Wednesday morning in less than a week,” said Janice, Founder of the animal rescue organization, Perry’s Promise.
Perry’s Promise is a non-profit animal aid organization that works to eliminate the number of unwanted animals that are discarded, abandoned, abused and fed.
When Willow arrived at the shelter, she was already in really rough shape. She was so sick that she was almost knocking on death’s door. But luckily for her, many animal lovers have come together to help her get healthy again.
“Willow is so sick that I can only feed him two teaspoons of food every hour. Sometimes she even throws it up,” said shelter director Julie Wynn.
But slowly, and because she was treated with so much love, Willow grew from a 20-pound walking skeleton into a healthy 55-pound dog. When she finally felt a little better, her great personality really started to shine. She is calm, less responsive to noises and smells, sweet and gentle. It’s clear that she would not only make a great dog companion, but also have the ability to excel if given an extremely important job.
“I just saw how special she was and right after she was released for adoption I contacted Warrior Freedom Dogs because I knew she would make an excellent service dog. She’s just a good dog,” says Janice.
Janice contacted Julie Jones-Thornton, training director of Warrior Freedom Service Dogs in Flintstone, and she visited Willow and assessed. Warrior Freedom Service Dogs dog training to help American veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Despite being mistreated and abused and has every reason to be wary of humans, Willow is very loving to people and has the perfect temperament to be a service dog for a veteran.
Now, Willow’s future is very bright. She is currently training to be a service dog and will live the rest of her life alongside her human, completely immersed in love.
Featured pictures: Facebook
