Juicy's story is sad, sweet then very happy. Trigger warning for animal abuse.
During the pandemic, Dr. Mandala and I hunkered down at my family's ancestral home in a small Colombian town. We were supposed to meet for a family reunion precisely when the world got sick and airports shut down. We were fortunate to be able to quarantine while we worked online.
The saddest picture accompanied by a sadder puppy story was posted in a local FB group. And it was only half of the story.
You see, Juicy was adopted from a litter of street dogs that were on the side of the road, by a teenager. This teenager then left to go to school in another city and left the little puppy with her mom, who doesn't like dogs. It gets worse.
The teenager's aunt was released from prison as the prison didn't have the provisions necessary to cope with the unknowns of Covid-19. She beat poor Juicy with a metal bar and broke her hind leg and damaged her pelvis. The crying was so bad that the police were called.
In Latin-American countries, the police are only called in extreme situations. The pup was taken by a local rescue group.
A nice lady decided to foster, but Juicy had severe abandonment issues along with extreme anxiety and hyperactivity. The foster abandoned her. This is when we saw the post.
It had been too long since her injury and the hind leg had healed on its own, but she was still limping when the rescue group brought her over. Our plan of fostering and rehabilitating her went out the window the moment this little bundle of pure love jumped on our laps and didn't want to get off.
Her separation anxiety was absolutely over the top. Mandala and I couldn't even eat at the same time because that meant nobody was giving Juicy attention and she would freak out barking at the top of her lungs. She slept with us at first and would cry if either one of us would leave the bed for whatever reason.
Three years later, through positive reinforcement techniques and a tremendous amount of patience, Juicy is now the most confident out of our three girls (more on the other two later!). She doesn't even bark at anybody walking by our door nor ringing the doorbell. Mandala trained Juicy using the buttons with verbal recordings so now Juicy tells us when she wants to go outside, when she wants to play, cuddle, or when she wants a treat. She grew up into a composed good girl that is great on walks, brings you any "contraband" she finds on the floor and is very well-behaved.
Juicy went from a victim to the Spanish for Vet Pros staff member, the Head of Security. Our Quality Control Officer, Gin, approved. Stay tuned for the next blog where the Doc will tell you Gin's story. Gin was the original staff member, so when we got a dog, we just had to name her Juice.
Sippin on Gin and Juice. Laaaaaaaaaid back.
Hasta Luego!
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