Rescuing Rosie: A Heartbreaking Example of Backyard Breeding

Her story and photos may be disturbing, but it’s a story we needed to tell.

By Maria Goodavage

“When I first saw photos of Rosie -– with her needle-nose snout, devastatingly misaligned jaw and teeth, severely bowed legs, and pinky-purple skin with hardly a patch of fur — I figured someone was having fun with Photoshop, morphing a pig and a rat and a dog and some other zany stuff together. It was a startling, even a bit disturbing, but I reasoned that she couldn’t be real.

Meet Rosie. The poor girl barely looks like a dog. But as I’d come to find out, Rosie is very real -– a product of backyard breeding and animal hoarding. She may be shocking to look at, but inside she’s a beauty, full of love, intelligence, and an incredible will to live. Rosie is one of 20 dogs pulled by rescuers from a house in Woodland Hills, Calif., last week. She is the worst of the group, which is saying something, because two other rescued Chihuahuas -– some form of sibling or half-sibling to Rosie — have no front legs at all.” 

For the full story click here. To follow Rosie’s progress, follow her on Facebook.