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I received a call from a friend: "There's a puppy in the hoarder’s house next door. I think she needs help." As soon as we pulled up, I knew the situation was bad. There were 3 large untrained German Shepherds fenced into a small area in the backyard. When the woman brought the puppy out, 6 smaller adult dogs came with her. The puppy hid under a chair and refused to come out.
The woman explained that she had bought the puppy to breed with her two adult German Shepherds, but the adult female wouldn't allow her in the yard without trying to kill her. The puppy was obviously terrified of the humans and the dogs. We paid $400 we didn't really have and drove home with the puppy, who shook and peed in my lap the whole way.

Photo: Krislyn

For days, the puppy refused to eat and peed anytime anyone walked near her, but hunger got the best of her and she started eating. The first contact she willingly had with the family was with our 9-month-old miniature Aussie, Hunter. They bonded and he became her protector. She watched as Hunter played with the humans of the house and eventually realized maybe we weren't so bad. My 10-year-old daughter was marveling over what a sweetheart the puppy was when my son let us know that "Schatzi" meant sweetheart in German. So Schatzi she was.

Photo: Flickr/Ronoli

Today Schatzi is a healthy, happy and gorgeous 1-year-old German Shepherd. She outweighs her "protector" by 60 pounds but protect her, he does. Her pack is the most important thing in the world to her. She is still unsure of strangers and usually hides when anyone outside the pack comes in the house, but she is learning to socialize outside of the home. She is terrified of trash bags to this day. I don't know what her life was like before she joined our family. I know it wasn't good. But I also know all of our lives improved for the better the day we adopted our sweetheart, Schatzi.

Story submitted by Krislyn, from Odessa, TX.

Schatzi's story was originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!”