The lonely life of stray dogs is absolutely heartbreaking. These pups fight to survive day after day as they wander the streets looking for food and shelter.
Living their life without knowing what true love and safety feel like makes them distrustful and frightened.
Our next story is about Habanero, one of those terrified stray dogs who lost hope of ever finding a loving home.
Let’s see how her story unfolds as she lets go of her fears and starts feeling hopeful about her future.
Searching The Rubble
In 2022, Stray Rescue of St. Louis, in St. Louis, Missouri, received a call about a dog living in an abandoned, dilapidated apartment building. Donna Lochmann, the shelter’s chief life saving officer, immediately headed to the site, along with her team.
Having arrived at the apartment building, they began looking for the dog, but they couldn’t find her.
After searching all floors of the building and making sure there was nobody there, they returned to the shelter.
It was getting colder and colder, and the shelter continued getting more calls about dog sightings in the same apartment building.
Lochmann returned to the building to check again.
“When I got to the backside of the building, I saw a dog lying in the grass. I saw her run towards the back of the building and she went in, so I followed her.”
Once she entered the building, the dog was nowhere to be found.
Realizing that she couldn’t search so many apartments by herself, she returned to the shelter and asked the other staff members to help her in her search.
The following day, Lochmann and her team came back and started looking for the pup.
Overwhelmed By Fear
Back at the “crime scene”, Lochmann and her crew heard some noise. Barking was coming from one of the apartments.
“I got over there and there was a poor dog just lying in the rubble of this building. She was absolutely trembling, her legs were shaking so hard,” said Lochmann.
As she approached the pup, the pup started shivering even more. Lochmann was heartbroken to see how terrified she was.
She hadn’t seen a dog shiver like that in a long time. While speaking to her in a reassuring voice, Lochmann gave her some food. The pooch looked at her with hope in her eyes.
The team named her Habanero.
Lochmann didn’t want to scare Habanero even more, so she didn’t want to use a leash to get her out of the building. She and her team used their hands to help the pup enter a plastic crate.
Once Habanero was inside the crate, she seemed relieved. Lochmann gently carried her to the car.
After coming to the shelter, Habanero had a thorough medical checkup.
She was in good health, but she was still uneasy, and she growled and shivered when her rescuers got closer to her.
The Healing Power Of Love
After a few days, Habanero became relaxed and she wasn’t shaking anymore. Her caregivers cuddled her a lot and the pup felt loved and cared for. She gave them a lot of kisses.
She often went on walks with them, and she quickly adjusted to her new surroundings in St. Louis, Missouri.
The shelter staff knew that Habanero was ready for the next chapter of her new life – foster care.
Soon, a wonderful family came forward and decided to foster her. She moved in with them and she enjoyed the warmth and comfort of her new home.
The love and affection that she was showered with helped her thrive. Habanero relishes every minute of her new life and we couldn’t be happier for her. She finally has the love she lacked her whole life. Habanero will never feel lonely and abandoned again.
