Injured pets have a difficult time getting adopted. Sadly, that’s a face when it comes to animal shelters.
People want healthy pets, affectionate pets — simple pets. Abused and poorly trained animals have much less of a chance of finding a loving home.
However, it can still take place. And as a story out of Mansfield, Texas, reminds us, sometimes “damaged” animals can make for an amazing match.
When Whiskey the pit bull came to the attention of Dallas-based animal-rescue group Bull-Luv-Able Paws & Chi Wawas Rescue, she was first known as Jessica. The Dallas Morning News says that, at that point, the pooch was in bad shape.
See, the animal had been part of a horrendous dog-fighting ring and had played the worst part that a dog can in those nasty situations. She was a bait dog, thrown into other vicious fighting canines as part of their training.
At some point, her terrible owners must have decided that she’d outlived her usefulness. But before they abandoned her, they shot her and left her for dead.
But while Jessica didn’t die, the gun blast left horrible wounds to her body. “In order to remove the bullets, the surgeon had to remove her leg all the way to the top of her shoulder bone,” Missy Redding, co-founder of Bull Luv Able Paws Rescue, told sources
Jessica eventually found her way into a foster home. Kristen Flora spent five months re-socializing the pup as she recovered from her injuries.
“Watching her overcome so many obstacles was a joy,” Flora said. “It’s inspirational to watch a dog with three limbs and a history of sadness love and just be without question or sadness or any of the things we experience as humans.”
Still, the future appeared bleak for the doggo. Few people desire an animal that has her kind of background.
Redding explained, “The chances of a tri-pawed, bait-dog pit bull being adopted was about one out of 100,000. We were not confident of her ever being adopted.”
Yet Jessica, who would be given the new name Whiskey, did find a home — and perhaps the best one she could’ve ever asked for. A man named Jeff Meyer adopted her.
Meyer could relate with the dog’s plight: He had been born without part of his left arm.
He said, “As a child, and sometimes even as an adult, I was — am — looked at differently by people. Often they will ignore me out of fear of the unknown.”
“I know from experience how others will view her and knew that she needed her shot at happiness. Lucky for me, it’s just that.”
“She has brought a ton of happiness into our home.” And I’m sure you have brought her much joy as well, Jeff.
