Lucky stray finds new ‘forever’ home
When a stray, white, 50-pound lab mix approached Sally Rios and her dog Chiquita during a walk at San Pedro Park, she noticed he was limping on his left paw.
Rios noted he was friendly and wanted to play with other dogs. But he definitely “didn’t want to be touched or caught by anyone,” she said.
Rios asked the park police to call Animal Care Services. Because the dog was friendly and not seriously injured, they told her he probably wouldn’t be picked up right away.
Area residents began talking about the dog on the Nextdoor app, and they left food and water for him in the park over the next few months. During that time, his paw healed, and he became “sort of king of the park,” said Ann Winer, who encountered him frequently during daily walks with her dog, Khloe.
When he suddenly disappeared from the park, neighbors worried he was injured or dead. Winer called ACS to find out if it had picked him up. He was there, so she asked if she could adopt him.
“I had always wanted to help him, but I could never catch him,” she said. “I asked if they thought they could get him into my car. ‘He doesn’t even want to come out of his kennel,’
they said.”
Winer still wanted to adopt him, so ACS bundled him into a blanket and got him into the back seat of her car.
“He just sank down on the floorboards in a little ball,” Winer said. “He was so afraid.”
Winer named him Jake, and though he responded quickly to it, it took a few weeks for Jake to adjust to his new life. At first, he refused to come into the house.
So Winer took him into the backyard where he hung out in the far corner for many days.
Each day, she moved his food and water dishes closer to the home. She left a blanket on the deck in the hopes he might sleep closer to the house. But “he just pulled the blanket into the yard every time,” she said.
It took a few weeks, but Jake eventually stepped
into her house. Then one day, he started sleeping on the couch with Khloe. After a little more time, he crawled into bed at night with Winer and Khloe.
“He is still wary but has come a long way in a very short period of time,” Winer said. “Khloe is loving. Jake wants to be loving, he just doesn’t know how to do that yet. He’s learning.”
Winer shows how patience, compassion and love can make the difference in the life of an abandoned dog. She and her neighbors gave Jake the second chance he deserved.