Blossom’s come a long way

Abused and neglected, a dog demonstrates resilience when shown love and care.

Resilience. Among humans and animals, resilience is an astounding characteristic. In Blossom’s case, it is a testament to the capacity to overcome extreme adversity. With enough love and care, a neglected and abused animal can flourish and recover.

Blossom is a six-year-old, spayed female, German Shepherd/Lab mix. RAPS received Blossom to save her from a life of neglect and while she has come a long way, she continues to heal from her emotional and physical scars.

She has been in her current foster home for two weeks and her family reports that she “is actually quite easy to care for and an absolute love.”

Blossom requires medication in the morning and evening but takes it very easily when it is hidden in a canned food “meatball.”

Partly as a result of her meds, Blossom has a tremendous appetite and thirst. This is good, because when she came to us she was severely underweight. She licks the bowl clean!

Most of the time, she likes to rest or doze on her favorite couch, which came with her from the Shelter. She and her couch are quite inseparable and ideally will accompany her to her forever home.

Blossom has a playful, goofy side that is showing itself more and more as she settles into home life. She loves cuddling on her couch, giving kisses and getting chin scratches and face massages.

Because of the skin condition from which she is recovering, she has to wear a giant cone, but she is used to it and bears it stoically. It prevents her from scratching or biting her skin raw and allows her skin to heal and hair to grow in.

When she came to us, her skin was so raw and sore that being petted was intolerably painful. She is now making up for lost time, luxuriating in her weekly medicated bath and loving the body massages she receives in the bathtub. Given the choice, she likes being inside. She goes out for frequent potty breaks but does her business and then wants to come back inside shortly after. She’s also quite vigilant in making sure no unwelcome visitors approach her foster home, letting her people know quite effectively that something is stirring outside.