Until a couple of weeks ago, this little doggie was just another pit bull with a skin condition in the shelter, who was looking at some tough odds at making it out alive.
It’s been a long trip for this young dog, from that to where she is now.
Gemma Zanowski, a Washington-based lawyer who runs the nonprofit Tough Love Pit Bull Rescue, saw the pup’s shelter photo. She instantly made the decision that this dog’s life would have love and snuggles in it, instead of likely euthanasia.
“There was something about her that just spoke to me. When I get that feeling, I get to work,” Zanowski told The Huffington Post.
She named the pup Dylan, after a beloved dog who’d unexpectedly died late last year, and then deployed her team.
The doggie was in an Arizona shelter, so logistics were tricky.
One friend got Dylan from the shelter. Another brought her to Sara Dent — herself a lawyer and pit bull rescuer, living in Arizona — who tended to Dylan for a few days, while arrangements were made for a dispatch to Washington.
At Dent’s house, too, Dylan found herself nestled up close with the other animals.
For example, here she is with Emma, one of Dent’s four dogs.
“She was pretty darn adorable,” Dent says.”She is such a snuggle bug.”
Within the week, Dylan’s chariot arrived in the form of a volunteer pilot named Lucas Ansley, who came to collect the dog and fly her off to Washington.
“Honestly, I cried like a baby,” says Dent. “For purely selfish reasons, as I know she will have an amazing new life in Washington and that she is one of the lucky ones to get out of the shelter. I just knew I would miss her sweetness.”
Then even in the air, this lucky puppy was a charmer.
“As a passenger, Dylan was superb,” says Ansley — mostly conking out, until the plane was about to land, then looking out the window and taking notice, “as if to say, ‘Well, hello my new home, you’re much greener than Arizona.'”
On top of being greener, Dylan’s new home has more playmates of a variety of species: children, horses, dogs.
And of course there’s the cat.
His name is Indie, and he’s an 11-year Siamese rescue with a stylish wardrobe (Indie doesn’t have much fur so the clothes keep him warm) who belongs to Tough Love volunteer Olivia Bradley.
Bradley has been looking after Dylan, while she gets a little more socialized, some obedience training and a few more cuddles from the cat.
“Indie and Dylan have snuggled every night and will share the occasional cat nap in a sun spot,” says Bradley. “Indie is quite smitten with little Dylan.”
Dylan will stay in foster care for a while, until her skin is all healed up and her social skills are unimpeachable.
After that, she’ll be made available for adoption — hopefully, to be taken in by a family who has a willing cat or two (or three or four).
And Zanowski will be looking out for the next dog who needs her. Her hope is that each rescued dog will serve as a model, who shows the world that shelter pets are loving, and good, and deserving.
“I believe in redemption,” Zanowski says. “We can all do something to solve the problems we see in the world. It doesn’t take money. It doesn’t take charm. It just takes love.”
Get in touch at arin.greenwood@huffingtonpost.com!
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