Woman Sees Sweet Animal Sleeping In A Garbage Pile And It Breaks Her Heart

It was a dark, dreary October morning in 2017 when Stray Rescue of St. Louis’ (SRSL) chief life-saving officer, Donna Lochmann, responded to a tip about a stray dog needing help. Lochmann combed the Missouri city’s streets searching for the dog but was soon distracted by a flicker of movement atop a nearby trash pile.

“I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye,” Lochmann wrote on SRSL’s website. “I hit the brakes in the Jeep to get a closer look at a huge mound of trash.”

The dedicated rescuer could’ve sworn she’d seen a dog hanging out on the trash pile, but it appeared uninhabited as she got closer. She thought he might’ve run away until her eyes wandered to a different part of the garbage mound.

“Then, all of a sudden, I spotted him,” Lochmann wrote. “There was a dog curled up in a tight ball, laying between garbage bags. With his dark coloring, he blended right in.”

Lochmann was startled by the pup’s presence and even more taken aback by his demeanor. She approached him gently, preparing for him to dart away in fear. Sadly, he was too heartbroken to move.

“He did not get up and run. In fact, he did the opposite. He just laid there,” Lochmann wrote. “He didn’t even raise his head until I was almost right next to him. Then, I could see his hollow, lonely eyes looking back up at me.”

You can watch that moment here:

The poor pup was dangerously skinny, and Lochmann could tell by looking at his prominent ribcage that he hadn’t been cared for in months. The look in his eyes furthered Lochmann’s fears.

“He [had] that look that told me he had completely given up,” Lochmann wrote. “He laid his head back down, expecting me to walk away as every other human in his life had done.”

The dog was visibly depressed and hopeless. Looking at him, Lochmann’s heart broke, but she knew she could get him the care he desperately needed.

She slipped a leash over his head, but the dog didn’t move. So, she gave him a helping hand.

“I bent down, scooped him up in my arms while talking gently and reassuringly to him,” Lochmann wrote. “I carried him back to the Jeep and laid down blankets. He curled right back up, just like he did on the mound of trash.”

The dog assumed his previous sleeping position, but this time, he settled into a nest of blankets instead of a mound of trash.

Lochmann fell in love with the pup as they drove to SRSL’s headquarters, and she quickly decided on the perfect name for him.

“I named him Kismet, which means ‘Fate,’” Lochmann wrote. “I can’t believe I stumbled upon him on that dark, grey morning. He would have been so easy to miss.”

Kismet received a warm welcome from the SRSL team, who swiftly created a treatment plan to help him gain weight again. They showered him with love and tucked him into his first real bed while searching for his perfect foster home.

Kismet went into foster care a few days later and lit up when he walked into his new house. His doting foster mom, Nikki, couldn’t wait to welcome him home. She followed Kismet’s treatment plan, adding a few extra kisses for good luck, and the sweet boy soon began to thrive.

“He’s doing wonderfully,” Nikki wrote in an update to SRSL, which they shared on Facebook. “He’s gaining weight (yay!) and has started wagging his tail and loves to give kisses. He sleeps a lot on any soft surface he can find.”

It didn’t take long for Kismet to steal his foster mom’s heart and earn a permanent spot in the family. As the days passed and Kismet became more comfortable in his home, Nikki knew he was right where he belonged.

“His foster mom nursed him back to health and fell in love with him,” SRSL wrote in a Facebook update. “It turns out his foster home was his forever home all along. They officially adopted him and love him to pieces.”

It’s been over five years since Kismet’s adoption, and the sweet boy looks like an entirely different dog now. Once a downtrodden, dangerously skinny dog, Kismet has officially reached a healthy weight and regained his puppy-like zest for life.

And his forever mom, Nikki, is ultimately head over heels for her beloved boy.

“He sleeps in the big bed with her,” SRSL wrote on Facebook. “He’s so happy. He loves toys. He’s a healthy, beefy boy. His eyes sparkle. He lights up any room he walks into.”

Kismet may be one of many successful rescue cases at SRSL, but he will forever hold a special place in their hearts. They’ll always see him as a priceless treasure regardless of how he was found.

“In my eyes, he was not trash at all,” Lochmann wrote. “He was a beautiful soul who [deserved] a life of comfort and to be part of a loving family.”

To help pups like Kismet get the care they need, you can donate to Stray Rescue of St. Louis here.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal