One Man’s Trash: Abandoned Dog Locked In Crate Recovers After Rescue In Heartwarming Photo Series

There are pet “rescues,” where a dog adopter makes their way to the local shelter and picks up a pup, and then there’s the story of Charlie Bravo. No offense to the former, but the rescue of this abandoned dog is a rescue in the truest sense of the word.

The story began in Arkansas in early February. Bret Winingar was out riding with a friend, when they spotted an animal carrier on the side of the road. Bret told THV 11 that it looked as if the carrier had been there for quite some time.

Upon approaching the carrier, Bret noticed that the tiny crate had been partially chewed open — from the inside. Opening the crate, Winingar and his companion found a dangerously emaciated dog inside, a dog too large for the crate she had been stuck inside.

The dog’s fur was matted, and patches were missing in some spaces. She was also hunched over from having been stuck inside a small space for so long. After getting the dog some food – which she readily wolfed down – the men took took her home for a bath, naming her Charlie Bravo (CB for short) along the way.

Getting her home, though, Bret noticed something shocking about the dog’s health. CB had been without care for so long that her nails had begun to grow backwards into her paws. The damage from the neglect was such that the dog was having a hard time walking.

Veterinarians addressed Charlie Bravo’s nail situation, and they dressed the sores that had developed on the dog’s body from having been trapped in the box for so long. The vets estimated the dog’s age at eight months by the time CB was brought in, but no one knows exactly how long she had been trapped in the crate on the side of the road.

It was a pretty brutal beginning for CB, but it’s turned into a better overall situation since. Bret and his son, Zach, started up a Facebook page for the abandoned pup, and it’s got more than 15,000 fans so far. Among those fans, some have donated money to help with Charlie Bravo’s veterinary bills, and Winingar says the funds keep rolling in.

“They know that the costs are covered basically by now,” Winingar told THV 11, “but they still donate because people want to help. If you give them a chance to help they want to.”

It turns out that Charlie Bravo has found a home in addition to her thousands of fans. The Winingars say that they’ve grown so attached to the pup that they won’t be letting her go.

“She went from basically a feral dog to a big old love muffin,” Winingar said. “There’s just that split second when you bond.”

And this abandoned pup’s rescue story could well wind up helping other rescue animals. The Winingars say that the excess donations for Charlie Bravo will go to local animal shelters, with some of the money going to set up a new foundation for rescue animals. Its name: Charlie’s Angels.

[All images via Imgur]