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Dog abandoned by her family stays on her blanket hoping they’ll return for her
Rescued on New Year's Day, a dog named Camilla had a long road to recovery from both physical and emotional scars after being discarded by her "family."
Jessica
01.20.21

We can’t imagine what it takes to abandon a pet when there are so many other options these days. And we’ll never know why this beautiful pit bull-terrier mix was left out on the street.

But we can say that it should never happen again!

A heartless move

In January of 2019, a Dallas family moved from their neighborhood, leaving behind their unwanted belongings in an alley. Except one of those things was their dog.

Dallas Dog RRR
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Dallas Dog RRR

Alone in an alley with only a blanket, it wasn’t until Marina Tarashevska, cofounder of Dallas DogRRR, came across her on a walk on New Year’s Day that she was discovered.

She wanted to rescue the dog, of course, but first, she spoke to neighbors who confirmed the pup’s sad story.

“It was really cold and rainy, and the dog was lying on her blanket — and she wouldn’t leave it,” Patti Dawson, executive director of Dallas DogRRR, told The Dodo. “I think she was still thinking her family would come back. She was in that stage of, ‘I’ll just wait here. This is familiar.’”

Dallas Dog RRR
Source:
Dallas Dog RRR

Of course, clinging to the familiar meant she was also terrified of other people.

Rescuing the pup was a tricky process. She was frightened of strangers and probably reluctant to leave without her family.

“Anytime Marina got close to that blanket, she would run off,” Patti said.

Then they got an idea – since she always came back to the blanket, they would move THAT closer to a safe place. Eventually, they were able to get the pup into a kennel. But she was still terrified.

“She basically was curled up into a ball in the back of the crate,” Patti said. “You could touch her, but she was frozen in fear. Wouldn’t make eye contact, kept her head down. If you got close to her, she would put her head into the back of the kennel, like, ‘Don’t look at me, don’t make eye contact with me, don’t touch me. Stay away.’”

The dog was re-named “Camilla,” and on her first trip to the vet, the doctor noticed that she had injuries to her neck – perhaps from a fight with another dog.

Dallas Dogs RRR
Source:
Dallas Dogs RRR

“The vet said it was either an embedded collar, meaning she was probably kept outside,” Dawson said. “The only other thing we thought of was that a dog had gotten into a fight with her when she got outside. There’re lots of stray animals out there, and so maybe they got into a scuffle over food.”

It was clear that she was going to be a tough case and need some time to acclimate to a loving new life – her scars were not just physical.

Dallas Dog RRR
Source:
Dallas Dog RRR

Healing the wounds

But if there’s anything we can count on, it’s time passing – and as the days ticked by, Camilla became more and more playful at the shelter.

“She’s doing great. Her personality is slowly coming out, and she’s starting to trust,” her rescuers told The Dodo.

She was thriving in her forever home and learning how to ask for affection and play with her foster mom.

The rescue even posted some photos of her having fun in the sun.

And while the last update was a plea to adopt her a few months after her rescue, her adoption page now says that Camilla has found her forever home!

Pet Network
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Pet Network

And she certainly deserves one after her rough start to life.

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