How a 109-pound rescue husky fell for running

Name: How a 109-pound rescue husky fell for running
Uploaded: 2022-08-12T17:00:12Z
Duration: 3 min 13 s
Description: Naleah first found Mishka as a photo on a California animal shelter's website. The shelter's first answer was no.

Naleah first found Mishka as a photo on a California animal shelter's website. The shelter's first answer was no. more

Mishka had shown aggressive behavior, the staff said, so she wasn't available for adoption. When Naleah did meet her, she saw a Siberian husky who was obese and looked sick. She kept calling Mishka's name until the dog looked around and their eyes met. "It was that second I was like, okay, I'm gonna bring you home," she says.

Then word came that Mishka had passed her temperament test, so she could be adopted after all. Naleah went to the shelter that same day. The workers told her that if Mishka wasn't adopted that day, she might not get another chance, and Naleah took her home.

At home, Mishka weighed 109 pounds. She was very depressed and couldn't even get up off the tile floor. Toys did nothing for her, and neither did walks.

A husky walks forward on a paved path with dry brush behind her. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — When she first came home, Mishka did not enjoy her walks at all.

The ones who turned things around were Naleah's foster puppies. They were outgoing little things and kept jumping on her, and all that pestering got Mishka moving and mixing with the others. Soon she loved walks and hikes, and the scale read 100 pounds.

Six months of walks and hikes brought her to about 90. Then Naleah took her to the beach, and that was another big turning point. Mishka found out that she loved to run.

A Siberian Husky with a thick double coat of white, gray, and black fur on a beach at dusk. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — Naleah first found Mishka as a photo on a California animal shelter's website.

Since then, Naleah takes her running every day. After ten months of healthy living Mishka weighed 70 pounds, 39 fewer than the day she came home. Reaching her goal weight took about a year.

She's social now, too. She barks, she runs all around, and on the sand she bounds along with her mouth wide open.

A husky runs across a sandy beach with her mouth open. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — At the beach, Mishka found out how much she loves to run.

Naleah says Mishka now shows "a love for life that she didn't have before," and their bond has grown right along with it. Not bad for a dog who once couldn't get up off the tile floor.

#husky #puppies #adoption