It all started with a call to Audray Luck, founder of Luck’s Rescue in Georgia, USA. A woman had just found a stray dog on her property. While Audray was busy trying to find a foster home for her, the woman called back with some baffling news: she had given the dog to a complete stranger she had met by chance.
Disappointed and worried for the animal's safety, Audray thought she would never see the dog again. But the next morning, another call changed everything. An employee at a local landfill had just discovered an abandoned Shar-Pei in the site's toilets.
A miraculous survival in freezing temperatures
When she arrived on the scene, Audray almost fainted: the dog huddled in the toilets was the very same one from the day before. The "mysterious stranger" had, in fact, quickly gotten rid of her amongst the rubbish.
The previous night, temperatures had dropped well below freezing. The clever little dog had managed to sneak into the toilet block to shelter from the icy wind and snow. Without this makeshift refuge, she probably wouldn't have survived the night.
A new beginning for Petunia
Named Petunia, the dog was in a state of advanced neglect, suffering from skin problems and malnutrition. She also had entropion, a common condition in Shar-Peis where the eyelids roll inwards, causing painful infections. "She had to have surgery, a kind of eye lift, to correct it," explains Audray.
Despite her traumatic past, Petunia immediately trusted her rescuers. "I named her Petunia, like the flower, because she started to blossom as soon as we started looking after her." In early April, after being transferred to a partner rescue in Michigan, Petunia finally found her forever home. The days of wandering and the cold of the landfill are now just distant memories for this little survivor.
