This is Corks — an incredibly happy and loving dog with an insatiable passion for life.
To see him now, however, you might never guess the sad story of his past.
Late last year, Corks was found as an abandoned and wounded stray. Vets believe that he may have been dragged behind a car, causing severe injuries to his legs. Corks was bandaged and placed in a shelter, but the scars of the trauma he’d experienced ran deeper.
Wary of people and deemed unadoptable, Corks’ days at the shelter were numbered — until rescuers from Dogs Without Borders stepped in to save him.
“[He was] about to be put down at the shelter,” Corks’ rescuers wrote. “He had lost so much trust in humans.”
Now, at least, Corks was safe.
In time, Corks’ body began to heal. But his heart was slow to follow.
For that, the abused pup would need more time and plenty of love.
And that’s exactly what he got.
A few months after saving Corks from being put down, Dogs Without Borders sought to find him a foster home to help get him back on the right track.
When Brooke Wilson heard his story, she volunteered to take him in — soon realizing that Corks clearly wasn’t accustomed to kindness.
“In the first week, he growled at me, my roommates and most people he met,” Wilson told The Dodo. “He was slow to trust.”
Slowly but surely, things began to change for Corks.
Under Wilson’s care and constant doting, the sad pup began to open up to her. Wilson gradually got Corks used to cuddles — and she introduced him to new people and other dogs, too.
“As time has gone on, he’s grown to trust people more and more,” Wilson said. “Initially unwilling to let a single person touch him, he now loves to spoon and greets me with kisses all over the face.”
Though Wilson initially had planned on just fostering Corks, the idea of parting with him soon became unimaginable. And the feeling was mutual.
She decided to give Corks a forever home with her.
“It was clear to me that I wanted nothing more than to make him happy for the rest of his life,” Wilson said.
Corks, who was once considered broken, was whole again.
And his happiness and joy now shine through.
“He’s a total goofball and very much a sweetheart,” Wilson said. “He amazes me every day.”
Corks is home, and his sad past is a distant memory.
Despite the hardship Corks had faced, a happier life was never out of reach. All it took was someone willing to give him a second chance to help him get there.
And as Wilson knows well, that’s made all the difference.
“Getting an abused dog to trust you can be challenging,” Wilson said. “But love and patience can truly work miracles.”
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