How rescue dog who "never felt loved" sleeps after finding forever home (2024)

A rescue husky who has experienced enough rejection for two lifetimes is finally able to sleep soundly at night after finding the kind of forever home every dog deserves.

When Janna Pearlstein from Boston, Massachusetts, first adopted Milo in January 2021, staff at the shelter pleaded with her: "Please don't fail this boy, he's never felt loved."

"We knew we were ready for a dog and that we were ready to put in the time and commitment," Pearlstein told Newsweek. "A rescue dog needs and deserves that."

As a puppy, Milo was thrown out of his original home in Texas, along with his two sisters, when he was just 3 weeks old. For a time, they lived as strays in an area of nearby woodland, surviving off food they found in the trash and avoiding humans at any cost.

However, by the time they reached 7 months old, Milo and his siblings' already fragile way of life crumbled around them. They found themselves living on land that was due to be redeveloped. The developer was behind the plans threatening to have the dogs euthanized if they did not leave.

Ultimately, Milo and his siblings did exactly that. They were rescued by a kind foster carer who fed and trained all three of the dogs. By the time she was done, they were ready to be adopted, and all three huskies quickly found themselves heading off to happy new lives.

Or at least, that was what they hoped. Two years later, their foster carer received a call from a local kill shelter: Milo was living there, having run away from his new family soon after being adopted. His foster carer made attempts to reunite Milo with his family but, heartbreakingly, they no longer wanted him.

She was left praying for a miracle. It can often be harder for adult dogs to get adopted. A study by Priceonomics found that, while 95 percent of puppies listed on Petfinder end up in new homes, that proportion drops to 75 percent among adult dogs.

Worse still, with Milo residing in a kill shelter, she knew he was facing a race against time to find him another home, or see him become one of the 390,000 dogs euthanized in the U.S. each year.

But Milo's miracle would come when Pearlstein and her partner, David Meola, decided to adopt during the pandemic. It took a while for Milo to adjust to his new home. "Milo was very afraid of men for a long time," Pearlstein said. "It took months for him to trust us and years for him to realize that we won't abandon him like his first family did."

Even now, the mental scars from everything he has been through remain. "He still hates being alone, but he knows we are always coming back and we don't leave him for a long period of time," Pearlstein said.

However, in the three years since he was adopted, something else has emerged: the happy, excitable dog Milo was always meant to be. "He is so sweet and silly and a completely different dog than when we first met him," Pearlstein said. "When we first met him, he was extremely shy and timid, and now he is so goofy and so gentle and playful."

Milo loves going for trips in the car and exploring new places and meeting new people in the company of Pearlstein and Meola. "For such a big dog, he's also a big baby and loves being told 'good morning' and getting morning snuggles," she said.

"He is as big a napper as he is an explorer. We try to take him everywhere we can so he can see as much of his surroundings. His health has taken a 180 in the last few years with lots of exercise and the best nutrition. He is a completely new dog since we rescued him."

Having spent years fighting and scavenging for his food, every meal time is now a source of excitement for Milo. "He loves mealtime and even does spins for his food when he knows he's about to eat," Pearlstein said.

Every bedtime, meanwhile, is done in the same sweet way. "His favorite way to end the day is to get tucked into his bed with all of his stuffed animals," Pearlstein said. "He will let us know when he is ready for bed and for his bedtime tucks and kisses. Now that he knows what it's like to feel loved, he can't get enough of it."

Pearlstein hopes Milo's journey will inspire others to take a chance on rescuing a dog. "Yes, it's a lot of time, commitment, and most importantly, patience, but the impact you can make on a once-helpless animal is truly life changing," she said.

"Sometimes, there's a stereotype that shelter dogs are dangerous or aggressive and come with bad baggage," Pearlstein added. "Milo had a rough start to life, but he is so kind, gentle, sweet, and loyal, especially for what he has been through. All dogs have sweet souls; you just have to help them find it and bring it out."

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