In early November, Florida police were making rounds serving eviction notices at a Fort Lauderdale apartment complex when they were approached by a group of children. They told the officers about Dice, a dog that sits outside in a cage at one of the empty apartments, clearly neglected and left behind. When the police asked how long he had been there, the children said about a week, but upon seeing the condition of Dice, it had been much longer than that.
“The tenants moved out and left him in the backyard in a crate with no food or water,” said Tracey Godin, cofounder of Feeling Fine Rescue in Loxahatchee, Florida. “He was not fed for months. The last week would have just been the final deterioration.”
The police immediately called animal control who took him to a local shelter. Luckily for Dice, a friend of Tracey Godin’s volunteered at the shelter and sent her several pictures of the neglected dog. Godin, who was utterly saddened by the photos said that she couldn’t even tell the dog was alive. “Tears immediately came to my face.”
Godin was at the shelter the next day on a mission to rush Dice to the vet.
Dice was so weak that he had trouble walking a few feet and could barely carry his own weight to the door. “He was 30 pounds, but he should have been 65 pounds. He was dehydrated and anemic. You could see his skull- there was just no muscle mass in his body at all. In my opinion, if he had been in that cage another day, he would not have made it”.
When Dice was healthy enough to leave the Vet, he was looked after at the Feeling Fine Rescue, which Godin and her daughter run from their home. The Feeling Fine Rescue, founded in 2012, focuses on rescuing, rehabbing, and rehoming medically needy death row dogs. After Dices arrival, his recovery took off.
“He was 40 pounds within one week. Two weeks later, he was 50 pounds, and by the weekend he was 65 pounds. Basically everyday you could see a difference in the dog.” Godin said.
More than regaining his health, Dice caught the eye of a family looking to adopt another dog. “They really fell in love with him. They asked if they could do a meet and greet at their property with their two current dogs.” said Godin. No surprise- the meet and greet was a complete success and Dice went home with his new family two weeks later on a foster-to-adopt basis.
Not only did Dice get along with the family’s current pets, but he also bonded with their two small children. A few days later Godin got a call saying they wanted Dice to stay forever. “They called me last night and said ‘We’re more in love with him than the moment we met him, and we would like to never bring him back.'” Godin said. “I was crying because this family is absolutely incredible… and I don’t think that Dice could have gone to a better home.”
The family has kept Feeling Fine Rescue updated on Dice’s progress and everyone is amazed at how quickly he has adjusted and been able to trust people again after what he was put through. One of the kids even told Dice how much he missed him while at school, and promised he would never go back to the rescue. “He’s so lucky, and he’s strong to be able to make it through this, and to come out on the other side so quickly and so successfully. I would say that it was a miracle, for sure.”
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