It’s not winter yet, but snow has already appeared in Saint Louis, Missouri. Spending nights in the open is very difficult and can become unbearable if you are forced not only to sleep outside, but also to look for something to eat among piles of rubbish.
This was the life of a stray dog rescued by Stray Rescue of Saint Louis (SRSL), an animal shelter alerted by telephone by a Good Samaritan who had seen the four-legged sleeping a couple of days in a row in sleet and garbage. The SRSL operators immediately got to work.
Everything went according to plan. Donna Lochmann, the SRSL rescue manager, got out of the car as soon as she spotted the animal, but did not immediately approach her. She knew she had to earn her trust. The dog was in fact scared, as well as visibly undernourished and cold: the shelter renamed her Little Toes because of her frozen paws. She looked at the human being, but she remained hidden among the bins.
Donna then took out some sausages. She was the right move. Attracted by the food, the dog approached and, before eating the meat, she let herself be petted. She continued to wander around in the trash a bit, got her leash put on, and even hugged the other SRSL worker who ran in to help her. By then the bulk of her was made up of her—getting her into the car to take her to the shelter was a no-brainer.
After the medical visit, Little Toes only stayed a day and a half at the shelter, because a foster home was immediately found for her. But even in that very short period of time she entered everyone’s hearts with her cheerfulness and vivacity. She will soon be given up for adoption, but in the meantime she can already sleep in a warm and clean space.
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