I just received this email from a friend. This pup is in a rescue home in New Kent in need of a permanent home. HOW can people do this??

Here is a very special pup that needs a very, very special home. Brought home at 8 weeks old by a teenager without permission from the parents, Layla (not her previous name) was kept locked in a small plastic crate in the teenager's bedroom. The parents refused to help take care of the pup in any way, which meant that ...as the teenager got busier and busier the puppy got less and less attention to the point where she was sometimes living the crate-- now, at 6 months old, too small for her to stand fully erect in-- for two or three days at a time, in her own excrement, with no food or water. On the occasions she was let out, she would wolf her food down frantically and growl-- at which point she was smacked for growling and put back in the crate-- so in effect she was not only being starved, but then punished for eating!!

I was contacted this weekend by the teen because she had been unable to save up any money to buy dog food for "quite a while", and the parents refused to help. By this point, Layla was extremely ematiated, had urine scald on her stomach and legs from being forced to constantly lie in her own urine and feces (there was no bedding in the crate to absorb any liquid) and she was, when she got here, quite literally petrified out of her mind. This puppy had lived in a hell for 4 months that we can only imagine. Never a toy, never any stimulation, never the chance to play in the grass, only day after day of living in a tiny cell in filth, bored out of her mind, smelling the food cooking in the next room and slowly starving to death...

Layla has been here for two days. She has been bathed and held and hugged and cuddled, and she can eat all she wants anytime she wants, day or night. She is starting to respond to us and to the other dogs. She has stopped crawling around on her belly and even went for a short walk this evening, altho she tires easily as she has no muscle tone. I don't use crates, so she is free to wander anywhere she wants.

Layla needs an extra special home where she will never, ever be crated again and will never know a moment's hunger. This girl desrves to live like a queen now. She is only a puppy, with plenty of time to learn to be a puppy, and a lot of love ready to burst out. Please help me spread the word about her and lets get this girl a home!

What a sad story in so many ways...I think I would be putting in a plea to find this teen a new home also!

Very true Tammy... what lessons has this kid been taught?

You know, I think here in Colorado that teen may have been charged with something. Sad, but a teen should know better with or without the help of parents.

It is hard to comprehend... I would like to know if this was a fourteen/fifteen year old or an 18 year old. With parents like these, it is not hard to see why the kid may not have a firm grasp of how to treat other living creatures. In Va, if the "child" is under 18, the parents can be charged, and in this case, it is certainly warranted.

OMG...

leih

Oh Barbara, this has to be one of the saddest things I have heard in such a long,long time!

First of all bless your kind heart for taking this dog in for the time being. I just simply can not believe my eyes in reading this!
Is there any talk of prosecuting these original owners for abuse?
I would like to strangle the teen's parents!!

I will be thinking of you and this pup, Layla, and hoping that someone extremely special comes along to give this girl everything she could need or want.
Thank God you have her now, and she can at least be taken care of in the proper way.
I just can not fathom anyone doing this to any living creature.
It makes me want to cry.

 Quote: Joyce Salazar

First of all bless your kind heart for taking this dog in for the time being.

Joyce, unfortunately, the pup is not in my home; the story was sent to me via email from a friend who is very involved in the local SPCA and rescue work. I am going to keep your blessing of my kind heart, however, a girl can never get too many of those!

 Quote:

Layla has been here for two days. She has been bathed and held and hugged and cuddled, and she can eat all she wants anytime she wants, day or night. She is starting to respond to us and to the other dogs. She has stopped crawling around on her belly and even went for a short walk this evening, altho she tires easily as she has no muscle tone. I don't use crates, so she is free to wander anywhere she wants.

Oh, I guess I was confused. This is the letter from your friend!! Forgive me, I have not yet had my coffee!! But you do have a very kind heart!! I really hope this pup finds the best home/person to give her all the love and care that she needs.

It sounds as if the teen tried but should have called animal control on her idiot parents who deserve to be put in a small cage and slowly starved. But, with people like that perhaps the teen is also living with abuse. I hope they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law even though it's probably much less than they truly deserve.