Sick stray puppy makes the most beautiful transformation

“I’m amazed that her spirit was not shut down, considering everything that she went through.” No Images? [Click here]( August 13, 2018 Good morning! Today we have a bald puppy with a great recovery, a stag who got lost and a dog’s first airplane trip. 1. Sick Stray Puppy Makes The Most Beautiful Transformation Photo Credit: Heather Blazina When Heather Blazina saw the puppy at a county shelter in Jacksonville, North Carolina, she knew she had to get her out. The 5-month-old pit bull mix had lost all her fur, and Blazina could see that she was very, very sick. “I could see that she needed out,” Blazina told The Dodo. “My background is medicine and surgery from the military, so I knew her time was growing short.” The puppy was also on the euthanasia list for the following day, so Blazina had to act quickly. She reached out to Adoption First Animal Rescue and asked for help. “I said, ‘If you pull her, I will foster and vet her,’” Blazina said. Thankfully, the rescue group agreed, and Blazina got the puppy, whom she named Amaani. The first thing Blazina did was try to treat her mange, the illness that had caused Amaani to lose her fur. But Blazina was surprised when Amaani didn’t respond to the medication. “I was kind of scratching my head, and after repeated visits to the vet, she was actually diagnosed with distemper,” Blazina said. Distemper is a serious viral disease that attacks a dog’s immune system, and it’s often fatal. Yet Blazina refused to give up on Amaani, and she worked with the vet to help Amaani get better. With medication and a lot of love, Amaani managed to pull through. “July 4 was the day she started showing signs of life, and it gave us hope,” Blazina said. “Amaani means ‘hope, aspirations, wishes and desires.’ We actually named her while she was still in the shelter. She has definitely lived up to her name.” Photo Credit: Heather Blazina After beating distemper, Amaani’s fur started to grow back, too, although she hasn’t grown much bigger than her puppy size. “I discussed her size with the vet and we believe the distemper has stunted her growth,” Blazina said. “She’s not going to get very much bigger.” Amaani is now enjoying her life in foster care with Blazina, and she loves hanging out with Blazina’s other dogs. “I have 10 dogs here,” Blazina said. “She blends well with all of them, but her pal is the 70-pound Dogo Argentino. Amaani would actually chew on Lily’s ear, thinking it would come off, and Lily would just allow it. But she gets along with all the other dogs, and has really no interest in cats.” Photo Credit: Heather Blazina Amaani also loves eating, playing outside and soaking up all the love and affection she can get. “She’s a diva,” Blazina said. “She loves to be held with her front paws over the shoulder and be carried around. I even bought a pouch for her to carry in front until she grew too big for that.” But to Blazina, Amaani’s most notable quality is her tenacity. “I’m amazed that her spirit was not shut down, considering everything that she went through,” Blazina said. “When she came to me, she had a 105-degree fever, so that right there tells you what she fought. She has an amazing spirit, and to be so minimally affected by everything that she’s been through already is just phenomenal.” Amaani will stay with Blazina a little bit longer, but she’ll be looking for a forever home very soon. “She’s a great companion dog,” Blazina said. “She will complete pretty much any household … I think she’s ready to find her permanent people,” she said.” 2. Man Walks Into His Backyard And Finds Someone Staring Out Of His Swimming Pool Photo Credit: RSPCA A man walked into his backyard Friday morning to mow the lawn and looked out across his unused swimming pool — and was shocked to see a large deer paddling around in the water. Luckily, the pool wasn’t completely full, so the deer could touch the bottom and keep his head above the water, but he still appeared to be pretty exhausted. The man assumed the poor deer was unable to get out of the pool on his own and had been wading around in the murky water for quite some time. Once he realized the deer was stuck, the man contacted the RSPCA in hopes that it could help. “He told us they had a herd of approximately 40 deer that visited their garden each evening so the stag may have been in the pool all night,” Patrick Bailey, an inspector with the RSPCA, said in a press release. “He wasn’t visible from the house so it was unclear how long he’d been in the water.” Bailey went out to the man’s home to assess the situation and quickly realized there was no way he would be able to get the deer out of the pool on his own. He contacted his colleague Karen Gregor for help, and the pair began using grasper poles to grab the deer by the antlers and pull him over to one side of the pool so they could reach him. Photo Credit: RSPCA “We grabbed an antler each and hauled him out,” Bailey said. “He was very heavy and it was tricky to lift him up and out in order to clear the edge of the pool and avoid injuring him. Luckily, the deer pushed off of the floor in an effort to jump, giving us enough momentum to pull him up and out.” With as much force as they could muster, the pair were finally able to pull the deer up and out of the water. Although he was a little disoriented, he appeared to be uninjured and in good condition, so after a few minutes they were able to release him back into the wild. “He was a little wobbly at first but soon found his feet and wandered off into the surrounding countryside,” Bailey said. “It was such a lovely result and I’m so pleased we were able to save him. It could have easily had a much more tragic ending.” 3. Dog On His 'Freedom Flight' Is Too Excited To Stay In His Seat Photo Credit: Path 88 Productions The first time Woody, a 5-year-old Great Pyrenees, got to ride in an airplane, he was on his way to freedom. And he had a special way of showing his thanks. Initially found as a stray on the streets of North Carolina, Woody had spent his days inside a local shelter, with nothing but concrete walls to stare at. After a veterinary exam revealed that he was suffering from mange, heartworm and a host of other problems that would require expensive medical care, he was scheduled to be euthanized. LaMancha Animal Rescue heard of Woody’s situation and agreed to take him in. The only problem? The rescue was located hundreds of miles away in Unionville, Pennsylvania. That’s when network engineer and Army veteran Paul Steklenski stepped up with a plan and, more importantly, a plane. Steklenski is the founder of Flying Fur Animal Rescue, and over the course of three years he has flown over 1,000 animals in need from overcrowded kill shelters in North Carolina to rescues in the Northeast. When Steklenski arrived at the airport early one morning in late July, he set to work figuring out a Tetris-like configuration of crates for Woody and the four other dogs he was transporting. Too much weight in the back of the plane would throw off the aircraft’s balance — and Woody’s 84 pounds made things all the more complicated. Photo Credit: Path 88 Productions Steklenski made Woody a comfy spot between the crates and the walls of the aircraft, and the dog seemed quite content. But as soon as the plane left the ground, it became clear that Woody wasn’t interested in being merely a passenger — he wanted to be copilot. “Because of the loading and how big some of these dogs were, I had to basically carve out a place in the back of the airplane for him so he could sit freely,” Steklenski said. “It was a surprise to us once we got him in and he looked pretty happy, when he started to make his way forward until we were nose-to-nose.” Woody popped up over the seat and couldn’t stop smiling at his rescuers. He quickly became friendly with the pilot and cameraman present in the plane. “It was great, he just wanted to be around us, and that blows me away,” Steklenski said. “Here’s this dog, he has all these problems, but he doesn’t care, he just wants to be next to another being.” Above the clouds, Woody didn’t seem to have a care in the world. “He just made his way forward, put his paws on the chair and kinda got nose-to-nose and took a little nap there,” Steklenski said. “He fell asleep and stayed there for the rest of the flight.” “It was wonderful — I never expected him to climb forward the way he did,” Steklenski added. “He just wanted to be part of the action.” Photo Credit: Paul Steklenski After a week of healing at LaMancha Animal Rescue, Woody’s coat is white and fluffy once more. Now on a special diet and antibiotics, he’s gaining weight and enjoying running around the rescue’s farmland and snuggling up on his first real couch. Steklenski can’t wait to visit and see just how far the dog’s come. “Dogs are just incredible. Even in their worst condition, in their worst shape, they’re always happy to see you, hang out with you and be with you,” Steklenski said. “It always blows my mind how resilient animals are.” Steklenski knows that once Woody is healthy again, he will make some family very happy. “We don’t deserve dogs, they’re just the best,” Steklenski added. “I don’t know how else to say it really.” Guy Reunites Baby Swan With Mom [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( The Dodo 100 Crosby St., 201 New York, NY 10012 [Forward]( [Unsubscribe](