Merlin found us wandering down the road by the rescue on December 14. He was completely emaciated, weak from malnutrition, covered in scabs and flea bites. We brought him in and began his treatment.

Merlin is a purebred German Shepherd. He is four years old. He is now putting on weight, his skin has healed, and he is gaining strength.

He is a very lovely dog, gets along with people and most larger dogs. He has a very strong prey drive and is not okay around smaller dogs, puppies, or cats.

We discovered that Merlin had a tattoo in one ear (thank you Fernando Aguilar for finding it!). We called the Guatemalan German Shepherd registry and they were kind enough to give us the name of his breeder and the name and phone number of the person who bought him from the breeder. We called the number and the woman who answered was indeed “Merlin’s” first owner. We found out that his name was really Tony. The family gave him away about a year ago to a man with a female German Shepherd, and thought he was being well cared for.

They came to see Tony the very next day, and it was clear that he was their dog. The family spoke to friends who have an old Shepherd and two Boxers, and this lovely family decided to adopt him.

Tony is still settling into his new home, but is doing well so far. All in all this is a pretty incredible story and an incredibly lucky dog!