With the holiday season upon us and the year winding down, we’re casting a look back at the most notable, newsworthy, and lovable dogs we wrote about on Dogster in 2014. It’s a little tribute we like to call the 12 Dogs of Christmas — and today we check in with a dog who was found in a near-death state.
4. Braveheart
Bo and Ronda Spataro are active in the local foster and rescue realm in their home state of Louisiana, but deciding to adopt a Pit Bull called Braveheart became their most heartrending case.
Having been chained up and abandoned in a storage unit for at least a week, Braveheart was found in a horrid state: He was starved and dehydrated, his skin was littered with pressure sores, and he weighed barely eight pounds. As we reported back in September, it wouldn’t have been a surprise had the vet at the emergency clinic decided to put Braveheart down.
Instead, he’s bloomed into a role model for rescues and is fighting a legal battle to bring those who abused him to task.
Having been taken in as a foster by Bo and Ronda at first, they decided to grant Braveheart his happy home when he was snatched away by local animal authorities as part of the ongoing investigation against the owner of the storage unit he was left in. Once whisked back home to safety, Braveheart’s rehabilitation began.
According to updates via Facebook, it seems that Braveheart has been a very active pooch of late. Along with prospering in his obedience classes, he is now an official ambassador for the Louisiana Baby Mammas Rescue organization and has become a fixture in the community: “He has gone to schools, with his humans, to talk to the kids about animal care and abuse. He has shown some of them that bully breeds are not bad and tried to end the misconception that some people have about them.”
The outcome of the legal case against the owner of the storage unit is now set to be decided on January 26. Before that judgement day, we hope Braveheart gets to enjoy the sort of fun-packed festive season he deserved from day one.
Enjoy the rest of the 12 Dogs of Christmas here:
- 12. Little Miss Lexi
- 11. Jonny Justice
- 10. Winter the Blind Pit Bull
- 9. Jimmy Choo the Instagram Sensation
- 8. London the Two-Legged Pit Bull
- 7. Uncle Samsung
- 6. Stan the Puppy Mill Survivor
- 5. Jefferson the World Cup Dog
- 4. Braveheart the Pittie, Rescued from a Storage Unit
- 3. Roo, Tripod Pit Bull Who Escaped Dog Fighting
- 2. Chica-Chan the Blind Chihuahua
- 1. Monkie the One-Eyed Pug
About Phillip Mlynar: The self-appointed world’s foremost expert on rappers’ cats. When not penning posts on rap music, he can be found building DIY cat towers for his adopted domestic shorthair, Mimosa, and collecting Le Creuset cookware (in red). He has also invented cat sushi, but it’s not quite what you think it is.
