Pablo the chihuahua was one happy dog, but that all changed when his owners decided to abandon him completely and out of the blue.

Back in 2016, Pablo’s family dropped him off at a pet sitter, but they never came back for him.

Understandably, Pablo was very upset and was constantly wondering where his family was. Because the young pup wasn’t familiar with this new environment and people, he behaved quite anxiously and constantly kept barking.

Pablo stayed at the pet sitter’s house for over five months. Unfortunately, the chihuahua and the sitter didn’t seem to get along and the woman who had been caring for him wanted him out. Apparently, he just made too much noise.

The woman posted a message on her social media stating that she’d bring Pablo to a kill shelter or would sell him via Craigslist. Luckily, a crew member of the AMA Animal Rescue organization noticed the message and decided to intervene.

It was later revealed that this pet sitter abused and neglected Pablo, which definitely explains his behavior.

“We learned that Pablo was being forced to live in a closet there because he was ‘barking too much,’” adoption coordinator Michele Walsh revealed to The Dodo. “We jumped in and took him immediately.”

Pablo was finally in a safe situation once again, but the constant neglect and abuse resulted in the pup still being shy and fearful around people. The chihuahua was afraid all the time, wouldn’t let humans come in his neighboorhood and always barked.

“He was especially afraid of men,” the animal rescuer told. “We don’t know everything that happened in his life to traumatize him so badly, but we have to assume that he had a really bad experience involving a man.”

Luckily, thanks to the efforts of the animal organization, Pablo would soon get his smile back.

He was given a full check-up by a veterinarian and the rescuers then decided that it would be best to move Pablo to a foster home in the hopes that he would become more open for humans and stop barking all the time. Michele definitely worried that Pablo’s behavior wouldn’t change much, but then the pup met his future foster mom Alexia Perimone.

Alexia and Pablo hit it off almost instantly. The two had such a good connection together and there was not a single trace of Pablo’s animosity towards humans anymore.

“It was amazing to see,” Michele told. “Within 15 minutes he was licking her hand and that was it. He asked her to be his foster mom.”

Nonetheless, the constant abuse still had its impact on Pablo’s personality. However, feeling familiar and loved around Alexia definitely helped him regain his smile and confidence. In the meantime, he also went through specific training sessions for his behavior issues.

“He went from barking so much that he was losing his voice to learning to relax at home,” the animal rescuer. “He did so great with his foster brother and sister, too. They really showed him the way.”

After months of staying with his foster family, the rescuers decided that the pup would be ready to be put up for adoption. It didn’t take look before someone wanted to give this adorable chihuahua a visit and take him home.

Maura McHale from Queens, New York visited the shelter and just knew that she wanted to care of him.

“I saw Pablo and that was it,” Maura recalls. “I had been wanting a Chihuahua for the longest time and just knew he was the one.”

The adoption was made official a couple of weeks later, and this pup finally had a loving and caring forever home again.

“The minute we drove away, he crawled into my lap and started kissing me,” she said. “All he wants is just someone to be with. It was amazing to see his personality come out.”

“His favorite thing to do is literally dance. He gets up on his hind legs and prances around. He’ll get so excited, knock the pillows off the couch and just start dancing.”

“It’s such an awesome feeling seeing how happy he is, knowing he isn’t going anywhere else,” she concluded. “He’ll always be right here with us.”

Just look at the pup’s cute smile!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Article Sources:

AMA Animal Rescue

The Dodo

To learn more read our Editorial Standards.

Share on Facebook

Share this article

By Jonathan Maes

[email protected]

Jonathan Maes is a contributing writer at Shareably. He can be reached at [email protected].