Nessa’s Journey

We first met Nessa in January 2020. This was one of the worst animal abuse cases we had ever seen...

She had been a fighting dog.

Wounds covered her face and body.

She had a ruptured globe (left eye), requiring surgical removal of the remaining pieces of the eyeball.

She was newly blind in the "good" eye.

She had 2 skull fractures, likely from being beat with a baseball bat.

She was heartworm positive.

Nessa was highly dog reactive and dog aggressive... in fact, the animal shelter refused to surrender her to a rescue/foster due to extreme dog aggression, and we urged them to give her a second chance rather than euthanize.

Nessa stayed with the Dog Squad for 9 months, before being transferred to an animal sanctuary.

Despite the abuse she endured, Nessa displayed no aggression toward humans. In fact, she was the biggest snuggle bunny and loved any and ALL human interaction! How can dogs, who have been harmed so badly by humans, still have so much trust in us??

Pupdate: Nessa was adopted from the animal sanctuary and is now living in her furever home. She does not show any more dog aggression, shares her toys, and loves playing with her furry sibling.

Nessa's story shows us that homeless fighting dogs can be rehabilitated, despite their violent pasts.