This is the story of my beautiful dog, Faith. 

Faith was found as a stray in October of 2013, barely surviving the streets of Shreveport, Louisiana, with her throat split wide open and 10 babies in her belly.

She was picked up by Bossier City Animal Control, who immediately turned her over to Special Needs Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation. Taking her into her own home, the rescue’s founder delivered Faith of 10 baby girls. Heartbreakingly, none survived, but Faith was on the road to recovery.

A string of volunteers then helped Faith on the two-day journey to her foster home in Colorado. It was conducted in one to two-hour stretches with an overnight stay in someone’s home, a remarkable feat of engineering.

Two months in an incredible foster home followed, where a wonderful family helped her rest, heal, and learn how to be a dog. Her foster momma had a lot of work to do—Faith was very skinny, malnourished, and frightened. She taught Faith how to be part of a family (Faith had three foster fur-siblings), filled her tummy with nutrition, cuddled and soothed her.

Finally, Faith was starting to trust and know what love felt like. But her journey wasn’t over. Faith undertook another two-day drive, helped along by another string of volunteers, all the way to me. I met her last driver at a truck stop a couple of hours just south of the U.S./Canada border in January of 2014.

I had first encountered Faith via her Facebook page. This horribly abused dog had come across my newsfeed, and I was hooked on every single day of her recovery, as were the rest of her followers. One day I was looking through photos of her and realized I was looking at my dog. I sent in my application form that same day.  

Faith now calls Vancouver, BC, her forever home. She’s my Louisiana girl.

When she first arrived home, she wasn’t quite done fighting for her life just yet. Shortly after arriving, she tested positive for heartworm, a deadly and painful disease that I had never, ever heard of. After three months of treatment, two of them kenneled, she is now a proud heartworm survivor. Those worms had no idea who they were picking a fight with. 

Once she was in the clear, I reached out to a dog trainer to address Faith’s reactivity issues. After hearing her story, the trainer, Karin Peters of Phoenix Transformation Canine Services, gave us nearly a year of free lessons as a way of thanking all those who saved this little girl she would come to nickname her “Louisiana Sweet Sauce.”
It took an army to save Faith, and I’m forever grateful to every single person who touched her life.

Faith is not without her demons, issues, and dark days, but for her to be so incredibly in love with humans after whatever horrors she experienced is testament to her resilience. Dogs are truly remarkable creatures.

Faith is now thriving, learning doggie manners, and inspiring us every day to forgive and move on. She is one of the lucky ones. She is my hero.