The Day Fate Stepped In
With more than 12,000 animals coming through the door every year, you wouldn’t expect the staff at BARCS to recognize one lone pup from a meeting many months before. This pup, however, was not easily forgotten – in fact, on his prior visit, he had motivated one volunteer to declare she’d chain herself to him before she ever let his owner have him back. Serious words, said from the heart, but no match for the law and, in this case, it had come down firmly on the side of the owner.
Fast forward many months later, and Nicky was once again back – severely underweight and covered with sores caused by being chained and confined for long periods of time. The problem was, both he and his four-legged brothers and sisters had arrived on a day when BARCS was reeling from a dog-fighting bust – a day when there weren’t enough kennels to go around. As is the protocol, an email immediately went out to the rescue community. No takers came forward so a second one went out and that was when fate stepped in.
It happened entirely by chance. A member of Animals Allied Rescue Foundation (AARF) happened to drop by BARCS that day. She saw Nicky and suddenly the past came flooding back. This was the pup that she and her husband had courted, fallen in love with and tried to adopt – only to be told, he was being returned to his owner. She often wondered what had become of him and one look told her, it had been nothing good. In addition to being emaciated, Nicky was gun shy about sudden hand movements and refused to look anywhere but down.
AARF, like every other rescue in Baltimore, is currently reeling from mounting medical costs and a lack of fosters, but there was no way they were going to allow this pup to be let down again. After a few frantic calls, a fellow board member at AARF agreed to foster Nicky and he was driven to his new temporary home that same day. We learned about him later that afternoon when photos surfaced of Nicky encountering his first ever….toy. The joy on his puppy face was something to behold.
Nicky has already come a long way from the scared, hungry pup he was a month ago. And this time, his trust in humans will be well founded – never again will he know starvation, abuse or life on a chain. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more animals could say the same?
Nicky is available for adoption through Animals Allied Rescue Foundation and he comes with free training from Pet-U-Cation.