Burbank shelter one of many assists for battered dog on journey to ‘forever home’
The German shepherd was lashed to a fence inside an abandoned junkyard. With no food and water, he began drinking his own urine. Part of his right ear was torn or bitten off. A too-small collar was embedded into his skin. Lesions and scabs dotted his back where there should have been fur.
When an unidentified good Samaritan brought the dog through the front door of the Emergency Pet Clinic of San Gabriel Valley last winter, a stench filled the room. Dr. Jeffrey Patlogar took one look and thought the animal needed to be euthanized, immediately, to end its suffering. But almost as quickly, the vet noticed something else.
The dog showed no sign of aggression. Perhaps that’s why he had been abandoned, Patlogar surmised. Maybe the shepherd wasn’t enough of a fighter, or a defender. There was something else. Kohl-black fur rimmed the dog’s eyes and trailed off at the edges, making him look even sadder, more pitiful.
The veterinarian crouched down. “You look awful,” he told the shepherd. The dog replied with a lick.
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-- Rene Lynch, Los Angeles Times