An adult male holding a mixed breed dog, possibly Labrador Retriever and Beagle, in an outdoor courtyard with trees and plants. 6:10
Animal Aid Unlimited, India channel icon Animal Aid Unlimited, IndiaOriginal creator 32M views Save

The street dog who cried at every touch

When the rescuers reach Helen, she can't even lift her head to look at them. more

Helen is a senior dog living alone on the streets in India. She has mange, she's starving, and she badly needs water. She can't stand on her own.

Animal Aid Unlimited, a rescue group in India, heads out as soon as word of her reaches them. They offer food first, to earn a little trust. Then they lay a blanket over her. It makes her easier to lift and keeps the team safe from the mange.

Even so, every touch hurts. When a rescuer picks her up, Helen howls in pain, and nobody on the team is sure they have reached her in time.

Back at their center, the exam shows she is in worse shape than they thought. She starts on antibiotics. It has been weeks since her last full meal, and getting her to eat is hard at first.

Something changes when Helen works out that these people mean her no harm. She nibbles at her first meal, and before long she is eating everything they set in front of her.

An adult male holding a mixed breed dog, possibly Labrador Retriever and Beagle, in an outdoor courtyard with trees and plants. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
When the rescuers reach Helen, she can't even lift her head to look at them.

With food in her, they turn to her skin. A soothing lotion comes first. Two days later she gets her first shower, and the rescuers are slow and gentle with every rinse. An IV takes care of the dehydration.

A person wearing gloves holds a small dog with matted fur while washing her with water in a tiled room. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Two days after the lotion, Helen gets her first shower.

She's a little better, but the team still has doubts. Helen proves them wrong. In time, the dog who couldn't stand grows into an active girl, and the change is hard to believe.

Out under a tree, she stops for a drink from a blue bucket, her face smudged with dirt. On the street, she went thirsty.

A light brown dog with dirt on her face drinks water from a blue plastic bucket near a tree. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Late in her recovery, Helen stops for a drink from a blue bucket.

Her spirit was never gone. It was only hidden, and it took time and gentle hands to bring it back out.

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