Dog Spotted On Abandoned Mattress Gets New Life, Still Faces Hurdles

By Christy Strawser
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) The photo was everywhere: A forlorn dog curled up on a bare mattress on a Detroit street, surrounded by the evicted belongings of owners who apparently walked away from him without a backward glance.

It was heartbreaking.

Dustin Oliver,  founder of Detroit Youth & Dog Rescue, saw a photo posted by one of the dog's neighbors on Facebook, and immediately headed to the house near Six Mile and Wyoming.

He called him Boo. And a new life was born.

But Boo isn't out of the woods yet. The rescued dog has stage II heart worm, which requires expensive treatment.

To help cover expenses, a "that's my BOO fundraiser" is happening 3-8 p.m. Sunday at the Firebird Tavern, 419 Monroe, to help Boo and raise money for other dogs like him. Get details on the event, and donating to the group here.

So, how's Boo doing now? Let's just say he's with the kind of foster mom who cooked two filets for dinner the other night ... one for herself and the other for Boo.

"He's doing absolutely fabulous, he struck the jackpot," Oliver said.

Still, challenges remain. Right now, and until the end of a 30-day cycle, Boo takes two pills a day to fight off the heart worm. After that, he goes back to the veterinarian for two nights of intravenous injection treatment. Then he has to go home and be quiet, recovering for another 30 days.

Eventually, a heart worm negative test should be able to be produced and then he's free to be neutered and then adopted.

"He'll be fine," Oliver said.

He doesn't know what would allow anyone to leave behind Boo, a 2 to 3 year-old American Staffordshire terrier who had obviously been part of someone's life. Rescuers guess he stayed close to the mattress because it smelled familiar, like people who once cared for him.

"There are numerous reasons why people do it," Oliver said. "They might have known he was heart worm positive and just left him."

The neighborhood is  dotted with abandoned houses, and the immediate neighbors who are left fed Boo when they saw he was alone. No one knew the previous owners directly.

The house was empty for an estimated month before one of the neighbors changed Boo's life with a Facebook photo that happened to show up in Oliver's feed.

Trust was a hurdle the dog had to overcome. Sausage McMuffins helped.

"It was slow going at first," Oliver said, explaining that the first day he spent 11 hours just sitting nearby and talking quietly to the dog, who walked in the opposite direction if anyone tried to get too close.

"He wasn't going near humans," Oliver said.

Oliver returned the next morning with McDonalds, and at first couldn't find Boo, who had been reportedly chased away by a man throwing rocks. Eventually, Boo returned and Oliver was able to get closer.

He sat with him again all day, slowly building up trust. Eventually, Oliver got close enough to put a leash around Boo's neck, and pet him, reassuring him for an hour that all would be OK if he trusted him enough to go with him.

"Once I had the leash around his neck, we sat on the blanket ... and we had a conversation," Oliver recalled. "There are a lot of new articles out there showing dogs can  understand you. I told him he was safe, he would never get hurt again, he can trust humans, no one is going to leave him again."

Oliver said he's spent close to $1,000 so far for Boo's care, and it's not over yet. Neither is Oliver's work saving dogs from the careless or cruel.

Since he found Boo a foster mom, he's rescued puppies found wandering along on railroad tracks, and a starved mastiff that weighed about half what he should.

Any money raised at the Firebird event in excess of Boo's care will go to help others.

"If Boo tugs at your heart in any kind of way, know there are hundreds and thousands out there and we're going to do our best to help," he said. These donations is how that happens."