When a dog named Raymond was brought to a hiking trail in Michigan earlier this month, he probably thought he was about to go on a fun walk. Instead, he was dumped there all by himself and watched his caretakers leave without him.
“Day after day, for five long days, he sat on a pile of wood chips overlooking the parking lot, waiting for his ‘family’ to come back,” The KG Foundation wrote on TikTok.
Hikers started noticing the abandoned pup and realized he was in trouble. One woman even tried to trap Raymond herself, but he wouldn’t get anywhere near her.
“When people approached him trying to help, he would run away and disappear, only to come back to his wood chip pile, patiently waiting for his people,” The KG Foundation said.
Realizing she couldn’t save Raymond by herself, the woman reached out to The KG Foundation for assistance. Jordan Covington, founder of The KG Foundation, arrived at the park prepared for a days-long rescue mission.
But as soon as she held out food for Raymond to sniff, he just walked right up to her. He was starving and defeated from the five days he’d spent surviving on his own.
After a brief hold at animal control to confirm no one was looking for him, Covington transferred Raymond to a kennel at A ReJoyceful Animal Rescue funded by her foundation. When Raymond arrived at the shelter, he noticed another dog and did something Covington had never seen him do before: wag his tail.
“It was the first time I saw his little butt wiggle, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, thank God, because he was really just a shell of a dog,’” Covington told The Dodo.
Unfortunately, soon after arriving at the shelter, Raymond came down with a nasty case of pneumonia. He had to be transferred to a veterinary hospital and put on oxygen. But thanks to the quick thinking of his rescuers, Raymond responded well to treatment and is feeling much better.
Just days ago, Covington witnessed another one of Raymond’s firsts when he picked up a toy and played with it.
“He’s been super brave with meeting new people,” Covington said. “He’s been really friendly and wagging his tail a lot.”
Raymond is currently available to be fostered, and as soon as he’s fully healed, he’ll be ready for adoption. Covington has been enjoying getting to know Raymond’s sweet personality and is sure he’ll be loved by anyone who meets him.
“I think that he’s going to be just a very sensitive soul and a very sweet guy,” Covington said.
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