This story was originally shared on the Animal Rescue Website. Submit your own rescue story here. Your story could be the next featured on Blog!
He first appeared, not even 3 months old, exhausted, hungry and thirsty resting under the palm tree next to our house. When we finally coaxed him out, we also learned he was completely covered by fleas, ticks and without any identification. We live a bit in the countryside and it’s not uncommon for hunters to let their dogs roam, that’s what we think happened to him, only this can get lost.
After playing with him for a bit, my husband and I bathed him, fed him water and put on flea medicine, trying to help him. As we were tending to him outside to decide what to do, our closest neighbor drove by and told us he belonged in their home, about 1/24 off the road. 4 more miles. It turned out that he was abandoned at home by his sister.
Sad to hear the news, there was really no choice but to take him “home” and hope for the best for him. When we got far enough on the road towards his house, he seemed to recognize his home and ran towards it. I actually cried when I watched him run towards the house because even in the short time since I met him, he has entered my heart.
It’s been a few weeks before we see him again, but we often wonder how he is and hope he gets better. Turns out, one of our dogs escaped one day, which she is known to have done. About an hour later, she came back and became friends with her. The little boy followed her home and literally, from that day on, he never left.
There is a gate on the road in front of our house that leads to our private yard. It was a street used almost exclusively by us and the neighbor and ended up at his house. We were careful not to let the puppy into our yard, as we didn’t want him to appear that we were leading him, but from that day on, Snoopy, when we were quick to call him , camped outside our gates for weeks and never left. He was there in the morning when we woke up, he was there all day and always there at night when we locked the door and called night. He made it clear this was the place he wanted to call home, and every day we got better with that.
Of course, we leave him food, water, blankets and even toys because even though he’s not ours, we’ll make sure he knows someone who cares about him. . He received lots of greetings and cuddles from us throughout the day and eventually the other neighbors came to play with him as well. He is becoming very popular and everyone is hoping we will adopt him.
The neighbor made it clear from the start that he was not interested in keeping Snoopy but since it is his sister’s dog he has no right to let us adopt it, which we decided to do. Will try to do if it can convince its owner. For all intents and purposes, at this point we are already a family, but we really wanted to make it official. Snoopy even played with our two dogs over the fence and they seemed to love him too. All he wants is to come and play with them but we have to be careful when bringing him inside, especially since he still has a lot of ticks.
One day I finally shoveled him and took him to the vet for tick treatment. It broke my heart to witness the sores he self-inflicted on his feet and legs trying to keep fleas and ticks away. Thankfully, we solved the problem for him and he really started to thrive. It is happier, more playful and brighter with a healthier coat.
After another three weeks, we couldn’t take it anymore and my husband asked to speak to his sister. She agreed and we are told someone gave the puppy to her young daughter as a gift but she has no room for him especially since he will probably be a big dog over and she lives in an apartment. My husband convinced her that it was best for us to take him in, we promised to take good care of him and that she was welcome to visit him at any time and bring her daughter. She totally agreed and was glad we wanted to marry him.
That was the day we finally got to go public, but he actually adopted us weeks before that. We just didn’t know it at the time. We really feel lucky and honored that he chose us.
Today, nearly 18 months later, he is our family’s handsome, loving, and loyal faithful guardian. He’s playful, goofy and funny, makes a great companion and everyone loves him. He’s our Snoopy and luckily, he’s here to stay!
Story sent by Lisa Villanueva from Faro, Portugal.
Snoopy’s story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your own rescue story here!
