A dog that no one wanted now pays now it forward, saving the lives of dozens of pooches.
Rascal, a black lab mix, was hiding in a bale of hale during the winter months in Kentucky in 2010 when he came charging out at then 13-year-old Rebecca Bryant.
“He came to me like he’d known me for years,” Bryant told The Times Tribune. “He came to me and he jumped in my arms and I took him…I carried him home.”
The teen’s mom wasn’t too keen on welcoming another dog into their family. “We were going to take him to the shelter, it’s true,” Deborah Bryant told the outlet. “And then after you keep one for awhile, you don’t do things like that.”
Related: Therapy Dog Comforts Mourners at Funeral Homes
While Bryants other dogs are outdoor pets, Rascal was too small and wasn’t really wasn’t into that whole lifestyle. “He always would come to the back door and scratch on it to let us know that he wanted in…So he’s always been an inside dog,” Deborah said.
But because he was a puppy and the family lived in the middle of nowhere, during the workday no one would be around to put him out for bathroom breaks. This is where Rascal basically turned into a super dog.
Deborah, a veterinary technician at Corbin Animal Clinic in Corbin, Kentucky, decided to bring Rascal into work and found a way to “earn his keep.”
“Rascal happened to be [at the clinic], and something needed blood. He was the only healthy donor here, and I said, ‘Well, you need to earn your keep,”‘ Deborah said. “So he donates blood for the clinic.”
To date, staff believes Rascal has given blood to dozens of other dogs suffering from various ailments including autoimmune diseases, blood loss and illnesses like parvo. Not surprisingly, Rascal isn’t a huge fan of giving blood but afterwards he is given treats or a meal.
Besides his blood-giving skills, Rascal also helped raise kittens.
Related: Therapy Dog and Rat Have Quite the Special Friendship
“He loves kittens. He would bathe them, wash their faces and make sure they were warm and all curled up,” said Rebecca. “I don’t know why he did it.”
At home, he takes the inside dog a step further. “The worst thing he does,” said Deborah, “is that he’s not allowed on the furniture and if we go and we leave him at home alone, when I come back he’s on the couch. I never say anything to him about it.” She does add, “We’ll leave the TV on for him.”
H/T via The Times Tribune and WYMT
Image via Facebook