Todd Sumamno
It’s unfortunate to say, but not all animals owners are always kind to their pets. Sometimes, pets find themselves in unfortunate circumstances. That’s exactly the situation one poor dog was in. She was forced to guard a store from a short chain and it greatly impacted her in a negative way. Then finally, rescuers came and her happiness could not be contained!
20. Guard Dog
Cala is a dog that was living in San Jose, Costa Rica and was being worked as a guard dog. Her owner was a mechanic and he used Cala as a means to protect his home. However, he didn’t treat her well at all.
19. Mistreatment
Cala was being horribly mistreated by her owner. He would keep her on a very short leash and she had very little food and water. Poor Cala was absolutely miserable.
18. Sleepless Nights
Every night, when Cala would try to get some sleep it would be almost impossible. Since the leash was so short, her head could barely reach down to the rags that she had been given as a bed. Her neck would constantly be hanging and it caused her a lot of pain and discomfort.
17. More Terrible Treatment
Not only was Cala barely fed and constantly lacking sleep, but whenever she was feeling sick her owner never helped out. At one point she was so malnourished she could barely even stand up.
16. Getting Worse
Cala’s health started to get worse and worse. She was starting to have trouble breathing and if help didn’t come soon she would surely die. Then one day, help finally came to the rescue!
15. Neighbors
Eventually, help came from the mechanic’s next door neighbors. One day as they walked past the house, they noticed that Cala was having difficulty breathing. That’s when they decided to contact the local police.
14. Police Intervention
The neighbors quickly got in touch with local police and rescuers from Territorio de Zaguates. Territorio de Zaguates happens to be a well-known dog sanctuary that cares for hundreds of dogs in their acres of land in the mountains above Heredia, Costa Rica.
13. Frustrated
“I felt desperately sad and frustrated,” Lya Battle, founder of Territorio de Zaguates, told The Dodo. “The picture I first saw of her showed a pitiful creature robbed of its dignity and ready to give up — a dog whose spirit had been broken and was just waiting for the end to come while living a never-ending nightmare.”
12. Removal
The police and the rescuers worked together to get Cala away from her abusive owner. Then they quickly brought her over to a vet. She was treated for her malnourishment and for the wounds inflicted by the chains she was confined to.
11. Sanctuary
Once Cala had been treated at the vet’s office, she was brought over to the animal sanctuary. She would stay at the sanctuary throughout her healing process. However, it would take a lot of time and love for her to heal.
10. Healing Process
“Her healing process was slow, and the humans around her still had to cause her pain through the curing of her wounds, especially the gash in her neck caused by years of hanging from a tight metal chain around her neck,” Battle said. “Nursing her was as painful for her as it was for us, but eventually she understood that after the pain came love and treats, so she learned to deal with it like a champ.”
9. Not Getting Along
At first, Cala didn’t get along with the other dogs at the sanctuary. This led Battle to believe that she had never interacted with dogs before or had been trained to attack them. However, after some time Cala began to trust other dogs and her entire personality changed!
8. Doing Better
“We saw Cala go from a weak, feeble animal, too depressed to care, to a stronger creature willing to stand up for herself,” Battle said. “With time, we also got to see that willful creature incorporate play and goofiness into her daily routine.” Every day, Cala became more and more trusting.
7. Learning To Trust
“With every day that passed, we saw more of her personality come through. She went from fearing humans to trusting them and even ‘bugging’ them for attention.” However, tragedy quickly struck one day when Cala accidentally ate sausages baited with poison that had been left behind by people who snuck into the sanctuary.
6. Fighter Spirit
“Cala was still alive when we got to her,” Battle said. “Probably her size helped tolerate the dose — that or she only got to a small bite of it. In any case, Cala was saved. She struggled with neurological problems for a while after that but she came around again. She’s just too tough a cookie!”
5. No Coincidences
“I think there are no coincidences in life,” Battle added. “Cala survived years of neglect, years of torture, years of hunger and illness. She was hanging on to life for a reason and she had already found out that life had been worth the long wait when again humans appeared in the picture wanting to hurt her.”
4. Foster Home
Soon after that horrible incident took place, Cala was finally placed in a foster home. She began to get a bit rambunctious, however, that was to be expected from a dog that had been locked up for so long. Her foster mom absolutely adores her strong spirit!
3. Rambunctious Pup
“After years of neglect, torture, and imprisonment, Cala seems to be getting all the puppy misbehaving process out of her system and we all think that’s just fine,” Battle said. “She is happy, strong, willful, a bit stubborn, and spoiled by her foster mom and family.”
2. Wonderful Helpers
It is thanks to the wonderful rescuers at the sanctuary that Cala was given a second chance at life. Battle is so proud of everything the sanctuary does. She says that she will continue to rescue dogs for as long as she can.
1. Rescuing
“This rescue is an epic battle of good against bad and of hate against love, and in the end, as it always does, love wins,” Battle said. “This rescue is the love-wins-don’t-give-up kind of rescue that fuels our stubborn madness a while longer.”
Silvia
