Two adult dogs with brown and white fur rest together on a bed in an indoor bedroom setting; blue patterned pillowcase and pink floral blanket add color to the scene.

7:33

The Orphan Pet 617K views Save

Abandoned old hunting dog now steals tomatoes

Name: Abandoned old hunting dog now steals tomatoes
Uploaded: 2016-10-11T20:18:24Z
Duration: 7 min 33 s
Description: It was past midnight, and freezing, when the call came. An old hunting dog had been tied to a tree on a mountain near Athens and left there.

It was past midnight, and freezing, when the call came. An old hunting dog had been tied to a tree on a mountain near Athens and left there. more

Greece is known for endless summer, but some winters there are cold, and this one was. Two volunteers from the Ilioupolis Animal Welfare Union packed a leash, a muzzle and some dog treats and drove out to look. They stopped every few meters, whistling and calling into the pitch black.

After an hour or so, one of them saw a white spot on the left, between the bushes. It was the dog, sitting there without a sound, and he didn't react as they came closer. "He had completely given up," one of them says. They untied him and lifted him into the car, and he was light as a feather.

They took him to a small shelter where the group keeps some rescues until a foster home opens up, and let him rest. Morning showed them a senior hunting dog, skinny and confused, with no idea where he was. They named him Tool, an ironic dig at how hunters there sometimes treat their dogs. For days he wandered the patio, then sat and gazed at the mountain, not making a sound.

A vet found him healthy, apart from an old front leg break that had never been treated, and found a microchip too. Through it, the volunteers reached his owner. Tool was nine, bought as a puppy for a huge amount of money and later given to another hunter. When he got old and started to limp, that hunter tied him to a tree.

A person with a stethoscope gently holds the head of a brown and white dog indoors. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — A checkup turned up an old leg break and a microchip that led to his owner.

After a couple of weeks, the sadness lifted, and "the funny, amazing dog hiding in that skinny body" came out. The winter stayed so cold that he spent a few weeks in a silly outfit to keep from freezing.

Tool stayed only two months. A woman in Germany had fallen for him the day his first photo went up, and she came all the way from there to pick him up. She called it love at first sight.

A brown and white dog with floppy ears sits on grass and looks up. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third. — A woman in Germany fell for Tool from his first photo and came to bring him home.

There was one catch. Tool had a kennel mate, Cozette, a young pointer left behind just like him, and his new owner couldn't leave her there. A couple of days later, she set off for Germany with both dogs.

Their life together is full of new things, from exercise and training to long lazy afternoons on the couch. At about ten and a half, Tool looks younger than ever and runs free on the beach and in the countryside. He has learned to come when called, too. Back in Greece, his rescuer watches the videos his new owner posts and looks for the same sight every time, a tiny white spot on the horizon that runs in, sits down and waits for a treat.

There's always something new to learn about him. He loves apples picked right off the tree, steals tomatoes from the backyard and gets a juicy ice cream now and then. He has excellent hotel manners. Most of all he loves to sleep on the sofa with Cozette, the two of them hugging "like an old loving couple."

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