Great Dane puppy Faith has a lot to be thankful for in the New Year: a new home in the United Kingdom, a loving family, and her life. The sweet pooch has come a long way since she was discovered emaciated in a ditch near the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in Old Windsor.
If it hadn’t been for the valiant efforts of another rescue dog — a beautiful Akita named Foxy — Faith more than likely wouldn’t have made it out of that cold ditch alive.
In November, Foxy was out on one of her routine morning walks with a volunteer. Suddenly, she began to pull on the leash, tugging her walking companion towards a ditch near the Battersea facility. Foxy started barking, telling the Battersea volunteer to investigate the ditch. Sure enough, lying weak and injured in the dirt, was a puppy, so thin she was little more than skin and bones.
Battersea staff and volunteers say that Faith came to them in horrible condition, with one of the worst cases of malnutrition they’d ever seen. While normal Great Dane pups should weigh in closer to 80 pounds or more, Foxy’s rescue only registered a measly 35 pounds on the shelter’s scale.
Despite all that she’d been through, Faith was a gentle, affectionate dog from the moment she was rescued, Battersea Old Windsor center manager Kaye Mughal says.
“Faith is an absolutely beautiful girl who has not lost her spirit despite being so obviously neglected by her owners at a young age,” she says.
British TV personality Paul O’Grady met Faith and her superhero Foxy while on a visit to Battersea before Christmas. Their story was featured on his holiday show, Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs at Christmas.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Faith for the first time,” Paul explains, “it is sickening to see a dog who has been so cruelly treated, never mind the fact that it’s weeks before Christmas.”
Paul says he was there when Faith got her very fitting name.
“We called her Faith because that was all she had left when Battersea found her in the ditch, and it was a miracle she was found in time,” he explains.
According to Your Local Guardian, Battersea staff believes Faith survived by eating soil in the ditch where Foxy later found her.
To keep her thin frame warm in the cold winter weather, staff dressed Faith in comfy sweaters. Veterinarians also devised a careful feeding program to bring Faith back from the brink of starvation at a gradual and safe pace. Because of Faith’s grave condition, it was certainly touch and go for a while. But with love, attention, and careful treatment, the little pup began to recover.
A month after Foxy discovered Faith near-death in that ditch, Faith found the happy home she deserves. Annie Gravett, who lives on a sprawling farm in East Sussex, brought Faith home on December 20, just in time to celebrate Christmas.
“It’s amazing to think that if Foxy hasn’t have found her hidden in the ditch she may still be there now,” Mughal tells the Slough & South Bucks Observer of Faith. “Instead, Faith is enjoying her new life with a loving family where she rightly belongs.”
As for Foxy, she spent the holidays in a kennel, the same kennel where she’s lived since last February. Despite her heroic deed, loyal Foxy is still at Battersea today, waiting for her own forever family to come along.
“We really hope Foxy can have the same happy ending because she deserves it so much, especially as she’s been in kennels for almost half her life and has now saved another dog’s life,” Mughal says of the amazing Akita. “The staff here are hoping people will see what an amazing girl Foxy is and her New Year will start in a loving new home.”
For more on Faith and Foxy’s story, check out Paul O’Grady’s For the Love of Dogs Christmas special online. If you’d like to learn more about Foxy, or if you are an experienced Akita owner in the UK who may be interested in adopting her, visit the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home website or Facebook page today.
