08/01/2025
Meet August. August is a heartbreaker. He’s also a heart stealer, a lover, a comedian, a goofball. He is love and happiness and joy personified. He is a hope-er, a dreamer, a believer. August is gratitude.
August is resilience. Above all, August is a survivor.
August has endured more than anyone should ever experience. He’s known unimaginable pain and suffering all on his own.
August first showed up on Pine Mountain in the dog days of summer. He appeared on a remote road with little traffic. While we can’t say for sure how he got there, it is a known dumping ground for animals no longer wanted. He was sighted scavenging on the side of the road on occasion and kind people stopped to try and help him. Too scared to accept, he always ran off.
We didn’t know about August yet. In fact, we didn’t know until after he was in our care and we had named him that August first made his presence known in the month of August. My friend Lisa calls that a Godwink. Maybe it is.
As the months went by people became more concerned. His once large frame was wasting away. A few people took to looking for him, trying to gain his trust, and leaving him food when they saw him. It wasn’t enough. By October his frame was gaunt. He was hit by a car but got back up and took off. It was clear there was damage done as he wouldn’t bear weight on one back leg. But even on 3 legs, he ran.
At some point in the not so distant past, August was also shot. Likely he found someone’s garbage to get into or a house to hang around hoping for scraps of food. Desperate to save his own life, all he got was a bullet through his leg. The open wound on both sides of his leg soon became severely infected as he struggled to survive in the wooded mountain side. August was running out…out of energy, out of willpower, out of time. He would not survive much longer on his own. I think he knew.
On the second to last day of December Alli spotted him. She called her mom, Amanda, for help. Amanda shared this, “I drove along beside him and got ahead of him just a bit. I threw the truck in park and jumped out. I threw both my arms out and got down on my knees to keep him from going by me, then I started to crawl toward him real slow. I was praying he would trust me. I held out my hand, he smelled it and then barely laid his chin on my fingers. I told him I know he was tired, tired of running, and just to trust me. I promised someway, somehow his life would be better. He started to let me pet him, and finally he walked real slow into my arms.”
August is at our Safe House now. His pelvis is broken, his hip is shattered. He has deep infection in his leg. He’s skin over bones. And he’s also sunshine and light. He’s gentle and sweet and wants nothing more than to lay his head in your lap, a paw slung across you…and of course his good meals. He has a soft bed and blanket, small meals every few hours to prevent refeeding syndrome and medications for infection and pain. We’ll take this one step at a time and do everything possible to help August recover. August, we’re so glad you’re here.
August has a small wishlist here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3JJW3YB68PLY4?ref_=wl_share
