The second Laurie Sanchez-Guzman heard about a little stray dog wandering the streets and living in a dirty ditch, she knew she had to put on her cape and be her hero.

Even though a few rescuers had already attempted to save the sweet girl, Sanchez-Guzman, with her extensive experience working with D & A Animal Rescue, a rescue organization from Texas, knew a few tricks that might succeed where others had not.

And, since you can do anything you put your mind to, a positive outcome was already guaranteed.

One For The Win

When Sanchez-Guzman finally found herself face-to-face with the pup, her heart broke into a million pieces.

The pup, later named Valentina, was completely covered in mud, with her fur clumped into painful mats. The rescuer also noticed some issues with her eye and ears, thinking that they were probably infected.

It was obvious that this sweet girl desperately needed medical attention. And, as much as she knew that herself, the strange hooman still made her quite nervous.

Easy Does It

Not wanting to spook Valentina even further, the rescuer decided to take things slow.

At first, she stayed at a distance, throwing some yummy treats and waiting for the pup to get comfortable in her presence. And, even though they were making incredible progress as time went by, the rescuer knew that she needed to speed things up.

“I was running out of time. I needed to head back to my town to get my kid from school, and also a bad storm was starting to fall. I had to do something drastic. She was close to me eating, and I just grabbed her from her back fur and pushed her inside a crate as fast as I could,” Sanchez-Guzman told The Dodo.

Initially, Valentina didn’t really like her new home. She did not allow a single person to come close to her, let alone touch her. It was clear that this pup didn’t have pleasant experiences with hoomans before because, even though she desperately needed a spa day, she was still quite feisty.

Luckily, as days went by, Valentina realized that these hoomans were actually the good ones, so becoming best friends with her rescuer seemed the best idea – and it was!

This new-found love allowed the Texas rescuer to take the pup to the vet as well as the groomer. Valentina wasn’t really a big fan of all the new faces, but when she was finally done, she looked like a brand-new pup.

“She started to show her real personality, and I learned she was very motivated by food treats and human interaction. She was a tough cookie! Made of pure muscle, it was a bit challenging to care for her in my home full of other fosters. But, she got into a routine and was happy when she got her one-on-one time. She was an amazing dog — a true fighter and a survivor,” she stated.

A New Life

Sanchez-Guzman decided to foster sweet Valentina for about a year. During this time, a lot of kindhearted people reached out to her with interest in adopting Valentina. Unfortunately, they just weren’t the right fit.

“So many people applied to adopt her, and we kept declining the applications because we knew she needed an experienced and committed adopter who understood that she was a warrior in a small and cute body,” Sanchez-Guzman said.

After some time searching, she finally found a family who she knew would take good care of the pup.

Valentina did need some time to adapt to the new faces and surroundings, but her family had tons of patience and was dedicated to giving her a good life.

Fast forward to today, and this little angel is living the best life possible.

She is the sweetest, happiest girl ever who still tends to be a bit of a spitfire, and her family absolutely loves her for it!

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Source: Los Angeles Times (edited)