When an abandoned puppy needed dire medical attention, this group was bent on giving her a life she was always meant to have.
Staff at the Villalobos Rescue Center, in New Orleans -- where the TV show "Pit Bulls and Parolees" is set -- received an alarming call last spring. They were told that a puppy was found, dumped in a sugar cane field outside the city. Tia Torres, a member of the rescue team, set out to save the dog, and was shocked by what she saw.
"When I got there, I met two guys with a cute little bulldog puppy and it was probably one of the cutest puppies I'd ever seen," Torres told The Huffington Post in an email. "They were sugar cane farmers and told me that someone just left her in a field to die and I couldn't understand why."
After watching the pup take a step, she noticed that it was walking on its ankles as a result of a deformity. Torres and her team worked tirelessly to care for the pup and help her walk more comfortably through the use of splints. The bulldog, who now goes by Blanche, has seen huge improvements in her mobility and is now living a fairly normal life with a loving adoptive family.
Since the puppy was young there was still time to work on correcting the deformity, according to Torres.
"The puppy's bones hadn't yet formed completely so her bones were still soft from being so young," Torres said. "That allowed the vet to splint her ankles and legs to straighten them out. This hopefully saved the puppy from having to have surgery later in life."
The recovery process hasn't been an easy one, as Blanche had trouble with the splints in the beginning. However, the resilient pup powered through.
"It was so sad to see the Blanche struggle at first but we knew it was for her own good ... and she didn't give up," Torres told HuffPost. "The splints allowed her to get stronger and walk on her paws and we couldn't have been happier with the result. She's a fast learner and got used to it really quickly! She was running and playing almost right away."
Blanche's rescue will be featured on an episode of "Pit Bulls and Parolees," on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Animal Planet.
Related
Before You Go
