Tragically, there are hundreds of thousands of animals out there who don’t have a warm and loving home, and who would do just about anything to be with a caring family.
Some of these stray dogs and cats usually have a troubled history of neglect, abuse, or malnutrition, and that often results in them being shy, not energetic, or untrusting of humans.
Shelter staff doesn’t really know what these animals have been through or how they’d react, and the process of bonding and making them feel at ease is often a lengthy and difficult one.
This poor dog was found in the streets of Los Angeles, and when rescuers took him in, the shelter staff’s heart broke because the dog was completely terrified.
The four-footer was extremely nervous, but he certainly couldn’t stay on the streets either. When he was taken into a shelter, the wolf-dog would almost never interact with the staff and preferred to sit in the corner of his kennel all day.
Whenever somebody tried to pet him, the poor pooch got uncomfortable and scared.
At one point, the shelter staff thought that the dog would be lonely for the rest of his life, but then they had a brilliant idea that completely turned this rescued dog’s life around.
They wanted to introduce him to another dog, as they believed he’d feel a lot more comfortable with one. Turns out, they were absolutely right!
When the lonely dog, who listens to the name Castiel, was first found, he was in a pretty rough shape. Rescuers estimated that he’d been surviving on the streets for quite a while, and his medical condition was perilous.
He had tons of parasites, didn’t have a lot of energy, and clearly too skinny as well.
Interestingly, Castiel is actually a wolf-dog – a hybrid of the two animal species.
Because of this, Castiel would have a lot of difficulties actually getting into a shelter in the first place, as most of them only accept dogs and don’t take in halfbreeds.
Luckily, there’s a specialized animal organization in Colorado called the W.O.L.F. Sanctuary, which assists and rescues wolves and wolf dogs in need.
They were more than willing to take care of this 1-year-old wolf-dog puppy, but they made sure that he got a medical check-up at the infirmary first. It was here that they noticed the dog’s extremely timid and scared behavior.
However, Castiel seemed to open up whenever he was with other dogs.
“The infirmary was located at her house and we noticed him getting really, really interested in other dogs.” W.O.L.F. Sanctuary director of animal care Michelle Proulx said to The Dodo. “So we knew he was starting to get lonely for canine companionship and wanted to find a companion for him.”
The dog was simply too lonely, but when they realized that he liked being around other dogs, they did everything they could to find him a canine buddy. They got in touch with other wolf sanctuaries, and it didn’t take long before they found another lonely four-footer.
Gray Wolf Wolfdog Rescue thought that their 3-year-old Tenali would be the perfect company for Castiel.
“They said she was really sweet and that there isn’t an animal she doesn’t get along with,” the director added. “We thought that would be great for Cas, who needs that friendship. We didn’t want to have him, while he’s not feeling well, feel like he has to defend or protect himself from an animal that isn’t quite a good match.”
At first, both animals had to get used to their new situation, but it didn’t take long before they started to trust each other and became inseparable.
“After a couple of days, he started to realize that she wasn’t going to hurt him. He started to feel more confident in himself and we’ve been seeing progressively, within the last week or two, that their playing together has become more frequent and more involved.”
Castiel’s anxiety has improved greatly, and now he’s finally never alone anymore.
These two friends are just a perfect match for each other!
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