Aggressive Dog Becomes Putty In Community Member's Hand And Gets Adopted

Part of the Mdzananda Animal Clinic’s services is an Animal Ambulance. The ambulance collects and delivers pets from owners who live too far to transport their pets to us. It also collects pets in emergencies. It was a Tuesday when we received a call from a lady in the community asking us to collect her dog. She explained that her dog was acting aggressively towards her and the family. She wanted to hand the dog over to us as she did not know how to care for such an aggressive dog and feared for her child and herself. Our drivers, who are trained to handle animals, went to collect the dog. They had to use catch poles to capture him and struggled to contain him. After much struggle, they loaded the dog into the ambulance (a bakkie) and transported him back to Mdzananda. On arrival at the Clinic the dog was beside himself. In the back of the bakkie he was barking, growling, running around and jumping against the windows and snarling at our staff. None of our trained staff could handle him – not our drivers, Animal Welfare Assistants or even our vets. He was ready to attack. Not even soft talking or nice food worked. At this very time, a man named Mzwethemba Sofika from the Khayelitsha community came to visit Mdzananda. He loved animals and wanted to adopt a dog. He saw the dog in the bakkie and asked what was wrong. We told him the story. He looked at the dog, deep in thought and said, “Let me talk to him.” Mzwethemba walked up to the window. What happened next was beyond understanding. As soon as the dog saw Mzwethemba he calmed down. He looked him straight in the eye, through the bakkie window, and stood still. It was as if they had met before.

Mzwethemba spoke to the dog through the window and with every word the dog seemed to listen and calm more. He then slid the window open and started patting the dog. The dog let him, started wagging its tail and licked Mzwethemba’s hand. After seeing how this dog had reacted to every one of our staff members, this was a sight for sore eyes. Mzwethemba took a lead, opened the bakkie and called the dog. He approached, let Mzwethemba put the lead around his neck and jumped out. From that moment Mzwethemba and the dog were inseparable. He called the dog Billy and adopted him. “I can tell, this dog and I, we are going to have a very special bond,” Mzwethemba said. To this day, we cannot quite understand what happened between Billy and Mzwethemba but, clearly, they were meant to be together. Timing had brought Mzwethemba to Mdzananda at just the right time on exactly the right day. Who knows, maybe knew each other from previous lives…