Dog living in trash was rescued 3 years ago, but he still doesn’t have a home

Rescue begins the minute you first spot the animal and ends with a forever home. Oliver’s story started almost three years ago, but it still hasn’t ended. After surviving for a long time as a living dead, he was rescued back in 2014, and is still looking for a home.

First glimpse

Oliver was spotted by a woman in Spata, the area near the Athens airport, in winter 2014. Emaciated, with severe mange covering his entire body and fearful, he wouldn’t be approached. “If he wasn’t in right in the middle of the street, I wouldn’t have noticed him – he was that skinny”, she says.

She stopped her car and tried to approach, but the dog disappeared. She became obsessed with him, and every day, same spot, same time, she was there, hoping to find him again. But she never did. She left her number to the residents, asking that they called her immediately, if they saw him, but nobody ever called.

Oliver’s rescue

Months went by, and in September 2014 the phone finally rang. A rescuer passing by the area had seen the dog. She left him some food with anesthetic, and waited for him to calm down. Oliver was finally caught and taken to the clinic.

Apart from the obvious mange, he also suffered from ehrlichia, leishmaniasis. The good news was that Oliver was a very young dog, and was willing to fight. So he did. He spent about a month and a half at the clinic, and after his treatment, he left for his foster home, where he is until today, two and a half years later.

Oliver today

Today Oliver is in foster care. Within six months of his rescue, he had already turned into a gorgeous dog, loving and tender. He loves other dogs, he loves people, he loves life. And he deserves a home.

Rescuing a dog like Oliver, and then watching him grow up without a home is more than frustrating. It is not that he deserves a home more than other dogs do, he just deserves a home as much as others do. Maybe he is overlooked because he is average – unfortunately, looks have everything to do with adoption. Maybe he is overlooked because he has been too sick – the “eww” reflex is hard to shake off. Or maybe, he is just unlucky.

I met Oliver today and I fell in love. He is a sweetheart. Loving, gentle and gorgeous. he has a heart of gold, he is excellent with other dogs, people, cats. He is being fostered by an amazing woman, and he looks happy- but no foster home can be compared to a forever home, and it’s time for Oliver to find his.

How to help?

The least I could do was share his story. The least you can do is share it too. And maybe, somewhere, somehow, someone out there is Oliver’s plus one, he just doesn’t know it yet, and hopefully, the more his story is shared, the more possible it will be for them to meet.

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