This poor dog was on the brink of death. He looked so emaciated, and anyone could tell that he was in lots of pain. Everyone just walked past the fossil-looking pup like he wasn’t there, except for one person. What happened next will leave you in tears.
In different parts of the world, stray animals live on the streets. Each day, they go out in search of food while hoping someone would give them a forever home. Luckily, some of them get rescued and adopted. Unfortunately, some stray dogs never get rescued, and they continue living in miserable conditions. They never get to eat great meals, sleep on warm beds, and enjoy cuddles from their owners. Sadly, they pass away without ever getting to experience the beauty the world has to offer.
One such pup, Hercules, lived as a stray on the streets , and it was this animal that came so close to losing his life. Hercules did not have a bad start in life. Once upon a time, he had loving parents who lavished him with lots of love and affection. Hercules’s owners, a young couple, adopted him when their marriage was on the brink of falling apart. They had issues conceiving, so they thought having a dog whom they could care for would bring them closer. As soon as Hercules got to the couple’s home, the constant fights decreased, and each night, Hercules slept in between them.
Unfortunately, a few months later, the arguments started again, and soon enough, the couple realized that they would be happier if they weren’t together. So, one day, the wife left the house and never returned. The following month, the husband could no longer live in the house too. He was haunted by the memories of his wife, so he left the house, leaving the poor dog behind. The couple didn’t think about how the dog would survive without them. They forgot that he was once their source of happiness. Sadly, they were only concerned about their pains and struggles.
So, Hercules, now alone, went into the streets to fend for himself. At first, people were kind to the stray because he looked cute and healthy, so they would often give him food. But when he started losing weight and looking scraggly, people started chasing him away. They no longer wanted him around. As time passed, it became more and more difficult for Hercules to survive on the street. Sadly, the weather wasn’t favorable, and it didn’t take long before the pup caught a cold infection.
Hercules started sleeping in warm but dirty environments. Unfortunately, this only worsened his condition, and he developed a severe skin condition. The poor animal started to lose all of his hair. Afterward, he no longer had the strength to go out to search for food, so he stayed in a spot and spent the whole day scratching his body.
In a month or so, the animal’s condition deteriorated. He became so skinny, and all he could do was lay in a spot, waiting for his end. By this point, he had almost no hair left and was unrecognizable. He was so thin, and his skin was so dry and dirty that he looked more like a fossil than an actual dog.
The sad thing about Hercules’s story is that he was out on the streets during the festive season. Since Christmas was fast approaching, the streets were bubbling with lots of activities. Everywhere was well decorated with Christmas lights and trees.
Each day, people passed beside Hercules, laughing and talking about their plans for Christmas, yet no one stopped to help the poor animal. When it was a week before Christmas, life started to slowly slip out of the dog. By then, he already looked like a skeleton. Everyone who passed beside him assumed he was dead, and those who could see that he was still breathing gave up hope. They didn’t think the animal stood a chance, so they just looked at him, shook their heads in pity, and walked away. Hercules himself knew no one was going to save him.
But the pup was wrong. In fact, everyone who gave up on the animal was wrong because two days before Christmas, a good Samaritan showed up, and you won’t believe what you are about to see.
On December 23, 2017, an animal rescuer, Pierre, visited her friend in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On getting there, Pierre heard that some lifeless animal was lying around somewhere in the neighborhood, and she decided to step in. Pierre ran around the neighborhood, and she eventually found the dog lying next to a house. She was appalled to see the condition the poor animal was in. His eyes, which were faintly opened, looked dull, and his skeletal and bony body was covered in sores.
“I cried because I could not believe that no one had helped them,” Pierre said. She approached the animal, knelt beside him, and in a loving voice, she said, “Hey.” Just then, the dog looked Pierre in the eyes, and he groaned. “His whimpering broke my heart terribly. It was as if he was trying to tell me that he was in lots of pain,” Pierre recounted. “It’s fine. I’m here now. I will take you home,” Pierre said, and the dog groaned some more.
Pierre quickly placed the dog in a cage, and she rushed him to a veterinarian she knew. The dog could pass away if she didn’t act fast. Once there, the veterinarian told Pierre that the dog could survive if he made it through the Christmas weekend. He also told the young woman that she would need to care for the dog round the clock. “I was ready to give all it required to make sure the dog lived, so I dropped every other thing I was doing and focused on him,” Pierre said.
After the vet properly treated the pup, Pierre took him home so he could recover. She made a comfortable and nice shelter for the dog. Then she sat beside him and told him she would never leave him, and all he had to do was recover at his own pace. Sadly, despite Pierre’s efforts, the dog refused to eat for the first three days, and he continued to lose weight. He had no will to survive, and “I could tell that he had already given up. It was heartbreaking,” Pierre said.
Even though the canine refused to eat, Pierre gave him water every three hours so he could stay hydrated. She also sat by his side so he could see that he wasn’t alone in his struggles. “The first three days were crazy, and on two occasions, I thought the dog would die. He really didn’t look good at all at some point. He was barely breathing,” Pierre recounted.
However, after the first week, everything changed. Hercules suddenly started fighting for his life, and with each passing day, he got better. He started proving to me that he was much stronger than he looked, and I loved every bit of it,” Pierre said. While recovering, Pierre would lift Hercules and encourage him to walk, but he couldn’t. Luckily, Pierre was very patient, and she would often tell the canine that she had all the time in the world.
Three weeks later, something beautiful happened. Hercules suddenly got up and started walking on his own. However, after he took a few steps, he fell. Regardless of this, Pierre was delighted as she took it as a sign that the animal was now desperately fighting to survive. The next week, Hercules
started moving about, although it was a gradual step. He would walk for 30 minutes, then fall. Later on, he began to walk for an hour before falling, and then he could go a whole day, then a week, and before Pierre knew it, the once lifeless animal was running around the house and jumping all over her.
It was during this period that Pierre, who never knew the original name of the stray, decided to give him a name. “I had been so worried and worked up that it never occurred to me that I didn’t know his name, and he needed one.” So she named him Hercules, after the Greek god of strength and heroes. What a befitting name for a dog who went to hell and back.
As the canine recovered some more, he regained his strength, and his fur started to grow back too. After two months of receiving adequate care and love from Pierre, Hercules had transformed into a beautiful and lively soul.
Initially, Pierre planned to put Hercules up for adoption after he fully recovered, but their bond grew so strong that she couldn’t let him go. “I am so glad that Pia’s efforts paid off,” the animal rescuer and her animal friend now look forward to days filled with lots of fun, happiness, and love. This wouldn’t have been possible if Pierre hadn’t given Hercules a second look.
