The act of rescuing a stray dog is difficult enough, but it becomes considerably more difficult when the dog being rescued is a massive Great Pyrenees.
Having spent a year by himself, this stray Great Pyrenees dog was terrified of strangers.
Many have attempted to apprehend him, but none have been successful until a local rescuer named Megan Allen made the decision to give it one more shot.
Rescuing Miles
Megan Allen, who is an LA-based dog rescuer and founder of Zeppelin and Friends Rescue, first heard about a stray Great Pyrenees dog – later named Miles – through a Facebook post.
“I saw a post about him on Facebook. Miles had been a stray for an entire year. Every time someone tried to catch him, he would run away,” Megan told The Dodo.
The very next morning, she jumped into her car and drove to a small, rural California town where he “lived”.
She was simply determined to save him.
“There were other stray dogs that would attack him… and it gets to like 110 degrees sometimes. I can’t even imagine him trying to find shade, trying to find shelter,” Megan said.
It didn’t take long for her to find him, but gaining his trust and actually rescuing him was another story.
Despite being such a huge dog, Miles was very calm and chill. He eagerly accepted treats from Megan, but as soon as she drew out a leash, he became terrified and attempted to flee.
“He was like ‘Oh, no, no, no. I don’t know what your plan is with that, but I’m not even going near you with that’,” Megan described.
All the trust that she was building up to that point immediately disappeared as soon as she pulled out the leash and tried to capture him.
He unfortunately ran away from her, as he was too scared.
But, Megan was not giving up on him. She searched for him for about six or seven hours all around this small, rural town in California. “I was just trying to get him and I couldn’t. I was heartbroken, and I had to find help,” she said.
Saving A Gentle Giant
Within a week of first trying to rescue Miles, Megan found someone who was willing to help her.
When Megan contacted Danny Spanks, from A SafeFurr Place Animal Rescue, in Bakersfield, California, he was eager to help save this gentle giant.
“Megan and I had come up with a time that we were going to get him safe. I happened to get there just a little bit before Megan did. Off in the distance, I see this big, white dog. I saw a fence and a gate (it turned out to be a dog park, which I had no idea). I lured him into the dog park with hot dogs, and I was able to slowly closed that gate,” Danny told The Dodo.
After Danny safely closed the entrance of the gated dog park, he waited for Megan to arrive. Soon enough, Megan and Courtney (her friend from her hometown) pulled up at the location.
Danny was very adamant about rescuing this beautiful doggo, and he finally did, but Miles was still very scared of both people and the leash.
“When he had the leash on, he was paralyzed,” Megan said. Miles was so scared that they had to carry him to the car.
Leaving the town with Miles safely at the back of the car was such a relief for everyone involved in the rescue mission. Miles, on the other hand, kept looking back to where he spent an entire year fending for himself.
A New Beginning
Mad Love Animal Rescue, from Los Angeles, California, agreed to take him in.
After he spent some time decompressing, Miles moved over to his foster home with Kerstin Hicks, who runs K9 Academy International, LCC.
In just a short period of time with his foster mom, Miles changed a lot for the better.
“He’s become a dog. He’s jumping on his foster’s lap. He’s interacting with other dogs. He walks on his leash. He has a bed to sleep in. And he smiles. He knows he’s safe. People wonder why I do this every single day. It’s for this,” Megan said.
After Miles received all his shots and was chipped and neutered, it was time to find him the perfect home.
He was luckily adopted into a wonderful family after just a couple of months, and as far as I know, he is simply thriving.
Miles, now named Cosmo, is finally safe!