On a bitterly cold December day, a woman in Detroit saw a helpless pit bull tethered up outside her neighbor’s house. The two-year-old dog had already been forced to spend a night outside in the freezing cold weather. She was shivering terribly, and her paws were frostbitten.
The woman was afraid that the dog would die from exposure, and so she quickly contacted local animal rescue group Detroit Pit Crew Dog Rescue.
“We received a call from a citizen of Detroit who seemed to be very frantic that her neighbors were leaving this dog outside in the cold, and left her out all night,” Theresa Sumpter, founder and director of Detroit Pit Crew Dog Rescue, told The Dodo. “She was holding her paws up because she was so cold. If we didn’t come and help this dog, this concerned citizen was afraid that this dog would die.”
Leaving this poor dog outside in winter was a horrible thing to do, and it’s also completely illegal. In early 2017, Detroit passed an ordinance that made it illegal to tether a dog outside for more than three hours at a time. The cruel people who left the pit bull outside broke this law.
When Detroit Pit Crew arrived at the house, the dog’s former owner refused to speak to them. The neighbor went inside the house and tried to convince the owners to surrender the dog. They eventually agreed, and they also revealed that they had another dog. This dog was allowed inside the house.
“[The neighbor] opened the door to show me that the other dog was inside, and she said that [the owner] didn’t want the dog that was outside anymore and they were just going to leave it out there,” Sumpter said. “So I went ahead and said, ‘Yes, we’ll take the dog. She’s obviously injured and she’s cold and she can’t be out in this weather.’”
Detroit Pit Crew put the pit bull in their truck and gave her a new name: Blizzard. The sweet dog was grateful to her rescuers, and she licked all their faces to say thank you.
Blizzard’s rescuers brought her over to a local veterinarian to get her checked out. The poor dog’s paws were swollen, infected, and frostbitten. But thankfully, the vet said that she would be okay.
“She’ll make a full recovery,” Sumpter said. “But it was pretty bad, and she was really cold.”
Blizzard spent the night at the vet’s office. In the morning, her rescuers brought the pup to her new foster home.
Blizzard is now living with great foster parents and two other dogs who were rescued by Detroit Pit Crew, Noelle and Cholo. All three dogs are enjoying hanging out together!
Our sweet girl named Blizzard, rescued yesterday, was able to leave the veterinary hospital today and go to a foster home where she seems to be fitting right in!
Posted by Detroit Pit Crew Dog Rescue onWednesday, December 13, 2017
Thanks to Detroit Pit Crew, Blizzard has a wonderful, warm home. If you’d like to help Detroit Pit Crew rescue other dogs like Blizzard, consider donating to their organization.
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