When a man named Flint went out at 6 a.m. into the yard of his California home, located in the high desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, to tend to his chickens, he thought it was going to be just a regular morning.
When he finished, he was about to return to his house when he noticed an animal staring at him from his garden wall.
By the looks of the animal, Flint concluded that it was a wild wolf! As this wasn’t his first encounter with a wild animal, Flit knew what to do – he immediately grabbed his dog, Stella, and brought her indoors.
After settling inside, he decided to peek through the windows to get a better look at the wolf. That is when he realized that it wasn’t a wolf at all!
Looks Can Be Deceiving
Being safe inside his home, Flint was able to look at the animal without the fear that was clouding his judgment. That is when he realized that the animal was actually a dog.
Even though he knew that the threat wasn’t as big, he still had a lot of caution while approaching the pup, which he assumed was either lost or dumped by previous owners.
“We live half an hour from the freeway, and people come all the way out here and dump dogs,” Flint told People.
After observing it from a safe distance, Flint and his partner realized that the pup meant no harm and was just wondering if there were any kind hoomans living at the house.
Flint and his partner decided to offer the pup some yummy food in order to gain his trust and show him that he was more than welcome.
“We’re like, ‘Okay, well, he is probably hungry at least.’ And so we got a little bowl of dog food and some water, and he very slowly came over and just obliterated that dog food and emptied the water,” Flint says.
After a while, the pup approached the hoomans and started kissing their hands and asking for some cuddles. It was obvious that he not only wanted the food but some love and affection, too.
Spending some time with him, Flint and his partner started falling in love with this adorable pup, so they decided to name him Balto.
New Life
After some cuddles and a couple more bowls of food, Balto knew that the hoomans were to be trusted. Flint then decided to take him to a Californian vet for a thorough checkup as well as a microchip scan.
The vet determined that the pup was between one and two years old and was suffering from a minor injury.
“He had an injury on his paw. He’d gotten bruised or nicked. He might’ve gotten hit by a car or swiped or something. And he had a small infection on his belly. So it didn’t look like he had been out on his own for months. But he’d definitely been having a rough time for at least a week or so,” he added.
After not finding a microchip, Flint decided to search the area and check if anybody was missing a dog. After not finding anybody who claimed Balto as theirs, Flint and his partner decided to take him into their loving home.
This sweet pup not only had new parents, but also two car siblings, Tugboat and Submarine, nine chickens, two roosters, and a doggo sister named Stella.
The couple is still on the lookout for any missing dog posters with Balto’s picture on them, but they do not mind making him a part of their loving family permanently.
And, even if this sweet pup was dumped, Flint does not hold any resentment toward them.
“You just don’t know what circumstances someone came from or why something happened. And so if he ran away, or if he was dumped, or if a family just didn’t know how to take care of him, those people still deserve compassion the same way that he does,” he says.
Flint adores spending time with his new best friend, who recently took his first camping trip.
Balto simply loves being free and running outside without any constraints, but he also loves spending some quality time by the campfire with his new parents, who are overjoyed that they were able to offer him such a happy and fun life.
“My partner and I both understand what it feels like to be too much to love, too much work, too much energy, too much hassle for other people. And so that’s one of the reasons why it was so easy for us to take in Balto. And what I hope people get from Balto’s story is that no animal, no person is too much to love or is too much work to be worthwhile,” Flint concluded.