Around three and a half years ago, Taka narrowly escaped a house fire while he was trapped inside. As a result, he sustained terrible burns. The workers at Care More Animal Hospital in Martinez, Georgia, saved his life. His family decided to give him over to the veterinary hospital because of the severity of his wounds so they could help him get used to his new life.
Taka’s mother, Crystal Lesley, a worker at Care More Animal Hospital, said, “After he was burned, he had a very long rehabilitation.” It happened in stages.
Taka’s life is very different now than it was before the fire. He finds movement difficult for him because he has terrible vision and no depth perception. His burns have healed, but because they were so severe, some of the fur never grew back. After everything he’s been through, change could be unsettling for him, so his family follows a strict routine to make him feel secure and at ease.
But nothing has caused him to stop moving.
“[He] is the strongest, bravest little fighter you will ever meet,” Lesley said. “He is an extremely feisty dog and nothing gets him down. He loves life! “
Lesley decided that people should meet Taka and hear his story once he recovered. She started taking him to a nearby burn center to visit and console all of the patients after having him trained as a therapy dog. He really adored it, as did every patient he saw who understood precisely what he had gone through.
