Tammy DeVito discovered 2 pitbull mixes outside the Humane Society for Greater Nashua after a night of severe thunderstorms.

DeVito, the shelter’s director of animal care, said she spotted one of the dogs on her way to work. She said the dog was sprinting up the hill in a panic and led her to her mate, which had tangled himself in a cable that leashed him to a fence near the Humane Society’s pet cemetery.

DeVito said the dogs had been forced to dig holes to stay cool. The second dog was lying in one of those holes.

The female is 5 or 6 years old and just getting over a skin condition, DeVito said. The male is older and is covered with tumors.

“Both dogs were soaked because of the rain that we had,” DeVito said. “The female probably broke free because she was panicked when it started to thunder and lightning and was running blind.  “We’re just fortunate that neither one was injured, especially where the female could have gotten hit by a car. Out in those elements, it’s easy for them to be scared. You could tell she didn’t want to stray too far from the male, though.”

Both dogs are friendly, DeVito said. She suspects the dogs were dropped off either the night before or early in the morning.

Even if an animal can be saved, not having an owner – or at least a former owner – to ask about medical history means DeVito and other animal technicians waste time trying to diagnose various ailments and injuries. They also have to wait at least a week to make the animal available for adoption.

“It really is wasting precious time,” DeVito said. “An owner can provide us with the information we need. We need to know if they have diabetes, breathing issues and any bad health signs that will help us find out if they have anything wrong with them that could be life threatening.  “We find ourselves seeking out as much information we can from a cat. The animals can’t tell us that.”

Reference:

The Nashua Telegraph