Earlier this year, on a sunny day in Pennsylvania, a woman stepped out onto her porch and found a horrifying package. Lying in an open cardboard box was a fluffy white dog — and he wasn’t moving.
Alarmed, the woman quickly called her daughter, who works for Speranza Animal Rescue.
“[M]y mom called me in a panic because she found a ‘dead’ dog dropped on her porch in an Amazon box,” the rescue wrote in a Facebook post about the event. “Turns out this boy wasn’t dead, he was just unconscious.”
When rescuers arrived, they were heartbroken to realize the pup was barely a year old. His pupils were cloudy, and he suffered from seizures. Rescuers moved the sick dog, later named G.I. Joe, into veterinary care, where he began receiving necessary treatment.
Within days, G.I. Joe’s gentle spirit began returning. He moved in with Karen Spangler, an experienced foster mom, and made friends with his new dog siblings. Though she immediately loved G.I. Joe, Spangler initially insisted that the situation would only be temporary.
“I didn’t want another permanent dog to add to my family,” Spangler told The Dodo. “I told multiple family and friends I would not become a foster fail.”
But as the weeks went on, Spangler realized G.I. Joe, or “Joey,” as she calls him, was too special to let go. The curious, quiet rescue pup had already bonded with her grandchildren and with her other two dogs. Spangler adored G.I. Joe, and she wanted him to feel safe and secure.
“I could not put him through another change,” Spangler said. “That was it. I became a foster fail.”
These days, Spangler can’t imagine her life without G.I. Joe. Her new pup has already proven to be a great influence on her other dogs, encouraging them to play and exercise. Spangler looks forward to G.I. Joe’s continued training and hopes to walk him on neighborhood country roads soon.
“They always say things happen for a reason, and this is so true,” Spangler said. “My family needed Joey. Never in a million years did I think he would turn out to be so sweet and smart. [I]m looking forward to seeing where he takes us.”
