Some might say that the abandonment of poor animals has completely spiraled out of control. Hearing this heart-breaking story, I can only agree with this sentiment.
On a beautiful sunny day in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, one woman stepped onto her porch completely unaware of the horrifying scene that would befall her.
Right there on her porch sat a cardboard box, which someone must have dropped off. Upon closer inspection and to her disbelief, she discovered a fluffy white dog inside.
The poor dog was in horrible condition, not moving, and, worst of all, he appeared to be deceased.
The Lifeless Dog In A Box
Panicked and unsure of what to do, the woman immediately called her daughter, Janine Guido, the founder of Speranza Animal Rescue in Pennsylvania.
“My phone rang mid morning. It was my Mom who never calls, we just always communicate by text. So I knew something wasn’t right. When I answered my suspicion was confirmed,” Janine wrote in a social media post.
On the other end of the phone was her mom, completely frantic and crying about a ‘lifeless’ dog someone put in a box and dropped off on her front porch.
Janine immediately dropped what she was doing and rushed to the farm where her mom lived. However, she couldn’t stop thinking about why someone would drop off an already deceased dog.
Quickly, she called her mom back and asked her to check if the dog was breathing…
“Turns out this boy wasn’t [deceased], he was just unconscious. At that moment I knew it was a race against time,” Janine said. “A lifeless dog. Completely limp. I picked him up and rushed him to our routine vet.”
It was a mixed-breed dog barely a year old – still a baby.
He was in really bad shape – extremely malnourished, matted, and covered in feces and urine.
His pupils were cloudy, and on the way to the vet, he even started having seizures. No one expected him to survive, but miracles do happen.
Beating The Odds
Once in veterinary care, the dog – who Janine named G.I. Joe – received IV fluids and treatments for seizures.
His condition was critical, but within days, he started feeling a little bit better.
After a couple of days, he was up and walking (although wobbly) and eating all on his own.
No one could believe that it was the same dog who was found unresponsive just a few days before.
His condition quickly improved, and after being discharged from the clinic, G.I. Joe went straight to his foster home with Karen Spangler.
Karen is a wonderful foster mom who has experience with epileptic dogs. She also has two other dogs – one of them blind just like G.I. Joe.
“GI Joe (Joey) is doing great. Taking one step at a time. Working on potty training and he is doing great. Has started jumping up on occasion so we are working on that and “no”. He does appear to see some, probably shadows. He has a great smeller. He wags his tail often. For the condition he was in he is doing awesome,” Speranza Animal Rescue shared an update from Karen on their Facebook page.
A Wonderful Foster Fail
Although Karen didn’t want to adopt another dog, G.I. Joe (or Joey as she likes to call him) won her heart almost immediately.
“I didn’t want another permanent dog to add to my family. I told multiple family and friends I would not become a foster fail,” Karen told The Dodo.
This temporary situation quickly turned into a forever one.
The beautiful rescue pup bonded so much with Karen, her grandchildren, and her other dogs that she didn’t have the heart to put him through the adoption process again.
It was the only right thing to do because now, Karen simply couldn’t imagine her life without this furry little dog who beat all the odds and transformed into a happy little dog.
“They always say things happen for a reason, and this is so true. My family needed Joey. Never in a million years did I think he would turn out to be so sweet and smart. I’m looking forward to seeing where he takes us,” Karen said.