Earlier this year, dog rescue Happy Doggo got a call about a puppy in Thailand who desperately needed their help. The pup had been hanging around a construction site in the jungle, and the managers of the site were about to get rid of her — by any means necessary.
When the Happy Doggo rescue team arrived, they found the puppy cowering under a bush. As they tried to gently coax her out, she hid from them.
“She ran away from us to get under this metal sheet,” Niall Harbison, founder of Happy Doggo, said in a video for The Dodo.
As the rescuers got a better look at the pup, they realized she was missing one of her back legs. It was difficult to tell whether she’d been born with three legs or if she’d gotten injured at some point. Either way, this discovery made everyone even more determined to save the dog.
Eventually, Harbison and the rest of the Happy Doggo team were able to pick up the terrified pup. As they transported her back to the rescue, she started to relax a tiny bit. They could tell she seemed to like the gentle human touch.
“She’s a very, very nervous dog,” Harbison said. “But she likes being held.”
Harbison decided to name the dog Candy after her sweet personality. After Candy got the medical care she needed, the Happy Doggo staff and volunteers turned their attention to helping Candy come out of her shell.
It didn’t take long at all for Candy to start feeling a lot more comfortable. Within just weeks, she’d transformed into a cuddly, lively pup who’d all but forgotten about living by herself in the jungle.
“She soon flourished into the most loving and playful dog,” Harbison wrote on Instagram.
Six months later, a family in Spain decided to adopt Candy. Her new owners love taking her to the park and the beach, where Candy sprints around at breakneck speed. Her zoomies are so powerful that she often outpaces her new brother, Fletcher.
“She’s a speed demon,” Harbison said. “Turbo rocket!”
At the end of the day, when Candy is finally tired out from all the running around, she gets to return to a warm bed in a loving home. After everything Candy went through, it’s the least she deserves.