When Shannon Ackerman pulled up to a gas station in Missouri City, Texas, she thought she’d just be leaving with some gas.
She didn’t think she’d be rescuing another dog in the process.
She had JUST come from rescuing a husky and two puppies who were trapped in a drain pipe near the highway. She was on her way home with them when she stopped for gas.
Ackerman, who is an independent dog rescuer, got out of her car and began to pump when she felt something on her leg.
“As soon as I started pumping gas, I felt something lick me on the back of my knee, which scared me,” Ackerman told The Dodo. “When I looked down, this sweet, sad German shepherd, who appeared to have just had a litter, was looking up at me with a look on her face like, ‘Can you please help me?’”
When Ackerman went inside the gas station, she said the owner said he saw someone leave the dog there and speed off before he could stop them.
The poor dog was whimpering and crying and physically trying to jump into Ackerman’s car.
Unfortunately, Ackerman’s car was already filled with dog supplies and three other dogs so she couldn’t fit the abandoned dog, named Mercy, into her car.
“It just broke my heart,” Ackerman recalls,
But she wasn’t about to just abandon this dog like her owners had.
She went back to the place where she rescued the Huskies to find fellow dog rescuer Whitney Hartman.
“She told me there was a German shepherd mom in the [gas station] parking lot, whining and trying to get into her car,” Hartman said. “Of course, I couldn’t leave her there, so I drove over.”
So Hartman rushed over there and Mercy jumped right in her car.
“She jumped right in with no coaxing,” Hartman said. “She was so happy to be in the car.”
Hartman took Mercy in for the night to have a nice meal and a goodnight’s rest. The following day Mercy was brought to a foster home.
A place that specializes in German shepherds called Sauver Des Chiens.
“She is doing well,” Courtney Manske, communications director for Sauver Des Chiens, told The Dodo. “She’s a love and a very sweet dog. But she’s still … looking for her puppies. She’s so confused.”
The rescue organization is hoping that they’ll find Mercy’s puppies so that the family could be reunited.
“We are still actively searching for her puppies and any information that might lead us to them,” Manske said. “We’re scouring Craigslist and Facebook … looking for whoever might be rehoming them.”
One thing that they are sure of is that they’ll find Mercy a loving forever home.
“Mercy would love a forever home where she can be showered with all the love and care she deserves, and where she will never have to worry about being thrown out like trash ever again,” Manske said.
Those who are interested can adopt Mercy or another beautiful German Shepherd puppy who needs a home by sauverdeschiens.org/adopt.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
