A police officer in Phoenix, Arizona, noticed an injured female pit bull walking the streets four years ago. The dog was in such a terrible condition that it was a wonder she was still alive.
“She was emaciated and covered in ticks,” Janet, the woman who eventually adopted the dog, told The Dodo. “She has requested that her last name remain anonymous.” “She was so dirty, he thought she was brown, she was so swollen and deformed, he thought she was blind too.”
Worst of all, the dog's ears had been chewed off, meaning they were used in dogfighting, perhaps as bait for a dog.
“She had several cuts on her ear,” Janet explained. “One of her ear flaps had been completely cut off; The other was rotten, decaying, and unsalvageable.
The officer arrested the dog and took her to a nearby shelter. Then Mayday Pit Bull Rescue volunteers intervened. While the rescue group was unable to accept the dog, they contacted Janet and her husband and asked if they could foster her.
"For some reason, we just agreed, so my husband went and got her from the shelter, and immediately took her to the emergency vet," she said.
The vet team did everything they could, but they didn't think she would survive.
“She ended up contracting several tick-borne diseases and was suffering from anemia,” she claimed. “The rescuers said it was the worst they had ever seen.” “It literally smelled like death, it was terrifying.”
Despite this, the dog managed to live.
"You could see she was terrified, but there was hope in her eyes, even though she had every reason to be angry," she said. “We were so angry and upset that someone would do this to her, yet she was so tolerant.”
The dog will have to stay at the vet for a while, but Janet and her husband decided to name her before leaving her there.
“When you rescue a dog, you always want to give it a name, especially if it's going to stay that night, so if it dies, it dies with a name,” Janet said. “We named her Calista, which means ‘the most beautiful’.”
Calista amazed everyone by staying up all night. Then she survived another, and another, and another.
Janet and her husband made daily visits to Calista.
“We really wanted to create that bond with her, and let her know there was consistency in her life,” she said. “People from the rescue team also came to visit her, so she had a lot of interaction with people.”
Calista recovered thanks to extensive treatment and multiple reconstructive procedures. She was able to return home with Janet and her husband about a week later.
They were only committed to fostering Calista at the time because they already had another dog, Zazu, and none of them thought they were ready to adopt another dog.
Janet quickly changed her mind after Calista was put up for adoption a few months later.
"Everyone joked that they knew she would stay, but we said, 'No, no, she's just a babysitter,'" Janet said. "Once she was available for adoption, I said, 'No, she's not going anywhere.'
"Now I can't imagine her being anywhere but with us," she said. “I think we need to accept emotionally that we are ready to bring it on.”
Zazu has developed a strong attachment to Calista.
“He was very helpful to her by teaching her how to be a dog,” Janet stated. "She didn't know how to play, she was afraid of everything, and seeing him do things was very helpful for her."
Calista still has some health issues and is receiving treatment for mast cell cancer. Calista, on the other hand, is thrilled.
“She loves life,” Janet explained. "She loves food." She is a person who loves others. Other animals are something she loves. She's just an incredible spirit. Fear arises from her experiences from time to time, but for the most part she has overcome it.
“She's famous for drumming her tail,” Janet explained. “She's always wagging her tail, and our floors are made of wood, so it sounds like she's drumming.” “She is the happiest dog I have ever known.”