Alex Wildee is no stranger to difficult adoptions. You may remember her as the woman who drove 900 miles from Colorado to Texas to pick up a special shelter dog. Recently she found yet another Texas pooch in desperate need of her help. The pregnant Catahoula mix named Arizona was on the euthanasia list at a kill shelter when Wildee stepped up to foster her. Just days after she was pulled from the shelter, Arizona gave birth to five puppies.
Soon after, the mama and her litter of three-day-old pups arrived in Denver to meet their savior. Wildee fell in love instantly!
She soon noticed that Dakota – the runt of the litter – was not developing as quickly as his siblings.
She spent several evenings bottle feeding him puppy milk replacer to ensure his health – and it worked! Little Dakota began to grow bigger and stronger.
But despite his hearty appearance, there was something a bit different about Dakota. As the puppies became more active, Wildee noticed that the runt seemed to be vision impaired.
It turns out that Dakota has very little vision at all – mostly light and shadows – and may also be deaf. But these special needs have not slowed the feisty pup down one bit!
According to Wildee:
Now that the puppies are old enough, they are available for adoption through Circle 2 Rescue. Two of Dakota’s littermates have already gone to new homes and the other two have had interested applicants.
But poor Dakota has not had a single interested adopter.
“He loves to snuggle and often falls asleep in our arms,” Wildee told iHeartDogs. “He’s a silly happy boy and I know his perfect people are out there looking for him.”
Do you have a puppy-shaped hole in your heart that Dakota could fill? Visit his Petfinder page for more information or fill out an adoption application on the Circle 2 Rescue website.
If you are not in a position to adopt, please help Dakota by sharing his story! The more people who see his precious face, the more likely he is to find his forever humans!
All Images c/o Alex Wildee
via Whisker Therapy
“He is such a happy playful puppy and keeps up just fine with his siblings! He is also so smart and was the only one of his litter to figure out how to escape the puppy pen – which took a couple of years off of my life!”