FOUND- Kushemu, terrier mix, Little Haiti (Miami)

While on a trip to visit some friends in Little Haiti, the neighborhood this rescue was founded in (a low income area of Miami), some neighbors told us about a small emaciated dog that had been running the block for the past several weeks. They didn't know how to help him, but they had witnessed a local shop owner trying to catch him, throw things and swing brooms at him. Just as they were describing the kind of abuse this shop owner has inflicted on other stray and feral dogs, I see a small black and grey dog dart between two piles of chopped fire wood and some parked vehicles.

I got closer, slowly. His fur wasn't grey; he was so dirty the white looked like grey from a distance. I left my friends discussing the details of this dog with the neighbors. Walking slowing and observing his darting patterns, I noticed he was confused by more sure and steady approach. This dog had either been completely ignored or threatened his whole life. Confronted with a human approaching with very non threatening movements prompted him to begin to do the "feral flirt". I call is a "feral flirt" because most dogs crave the attention, they just can't bring themselves to get the nerve to appraoch. I watched him weave in and out of yards and abandoned lots. He started playing hide and seek with me with some hanging laundry...

After ten minutes of flirting I began to slowly lose interest in the game and slowly walked away. Keeping an eye on him in the reflections of car windows and rear view mirrors, I could see him begin to follow me, inching closer and closer. If I stopped he would stop and pretend to not look at me. I turned into an abandoned lot and meandered about looking at wild flowers and continuing to ignore him. He got closer and closer. In a fluid motion I crouched down to my knees and let a small treat drop about four feet from my side. The little dog hopped up in the air and ran over. He pawed at the treat initially then grabbed it, took it a few feet further from me and smacked his lips as he ate it.

A few treats later, each thrown closer and closer to my side, he came and got one out of my hand. Avoiding direct contact with him the entire time, once he ate out of my hand I put my arm around his body and scopped him up into my arms.

I walked back around the block holding him like a baby and asked: "This little dog you couldn't catch?"

We loaded up our bikes and our new feral pup into the car and began his journey to domestication and a loving forever home.