DALLAS — After a 9-month-old pit bull found on the side of a Dallas road was taken to a local shelter and put on the euthanasia list, workers snapped photos of the visually-impaired dog appearing to reach out for someone to save him.
The pit bull named JJ was found as a stray on Dowdy Ferry Road in Dallas, which is known as a place where people leave dogs and many end up getting hit by cars, The Dodo reported.
But JJ, who is also deaf, survived.
JJ was taken to a shelter and later placed on the euthanasia list to die before someone rescued him.
“It’s not really a shelter — it’s really a shack, and there are only six kennels,” Patti Dawson, president of Dallas DogRRR, a local rescue group, told The Dodo. “Nobody visits it, and you can’t even go and reclaim your dog there. If you’re missing a dog in town, you have to go to the city, and the city will go check and see if the dog is there.”
But the pup caught the eye of Marina Tarashevska just in time.
“The ACO [animal control officer] said he was not eating, and that he was blind and deaf,” Tarashevska told The Dodo. “When he pulled him out of the kennel, he looked lost and was running under our feet, and just laying really, really low … like he was expecting to be hit.”
But when Tarashevska was about to leave, JJ was put back in his kennel and JJ literally reached out with his paw.
“He was putting his paw out, and begging to be saved,” Tarashevska said. “It was so sad because it’s so scary at that shelter … and he was so lost in there. It’s the most heartbreaking thing to leave a dog who’s begging you like that.”
Tarashevska reached out to Dawson and asked if Dallas DogRRR could get him out of the shelter. They immediately agreed.
JJ is now enjoying his foster home. He’s still skittish, which makes Dawson and his foster family think he came from a bad environment, but is learning to have fun.
“He runs around the backyard,” Dawson said. “She [the foster mom] takes him on long walks. He loves his snacks. He loves just laying there and chewing on a Kong.”
“She said he’s pretty affectionate, and he wants to be with you all the time,” Dawson said. “He’ll stay pretty close to your side. When she gives him attention, he’s so appreciative of it … and wanting more and more and more.”
The Dodo reports that JJ will remain in foster care as Dallas DogRRR gets him evaluated by an animal behaviorist and continues to check his vision and hearing.
They say he will eventually be up for adoption.
