Lana was first brought into the animal rescue centre Mighty Mutts in Toronto, Canada, as a puppy. She was the runt of a very large litter in Mexico and was, according to staff, ‘terrified of everything’. (HV)
Eventually, at five-and-a-half-months-old, she was adopted by a family. However, her guarding issues – developed when she had to compete with her siblings for food as a puppy – resurfaced.
Despite their best efforts, the family, which had young children, had to return her to the shelter.
‘She just shut down,’ Dahlia Ayoub of Mighty Mutts told The Dodo. ‘It’s almost like her world shut down.’
On her first day back, she was even too sad to go out for a walk.
However, Dahila, who looked after Lana when she was a puppy, popped in the next day and says the dog had begun to bounce back a little.
‘I wanted to see if she would be scared of me,’ she says. ‘I went back there and said, “Laaaaana! Hey, what’s up?”‘ The dog flew into her arms, almost knocking her over.
She will still only come out of her kennel for Dahlia and one of the other handlers, but the shelter is hopeful the ‘silly, sweet’ dog will find her a forever home soon.
‘Although Lana was returned to our program, her family tried their hardest to work with her,’ they explains on their Facebook page. ‘Because there were children in the family it was decided that it would be best for Lana to come back to our rescue so that we could find an adult-only home with an experienced handler.’
‘We will continue to work with her and find her a placement in an environment that suits her best,’ they add.
And Lana’s luck is already improving. After pictures of her dubbed ‘the saddest dog in the world’ went viral last week, she’s already found a new foster home. She will be placed there while Mighty Mutts search for her permanent move.
‘I know there’s a family for her out there,’ adds Dahlia.
Watch the video below:
