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"I could see his hollow, lonely eyes staring back at me,” Donna Lochmann recalled, her heart aching for the sweet animal.
It was a gloomy October morning in 2017 when Lochmann, the chief life-saving officer for Stray Rescue of St. Louis (SRSL), responded to a tip about a stray dog wandering the streets. She drove through the city, scouring the area when something caught her eye—a subtle movement atop a nearby pile of trash.
“I saw something shift out of the corner of my eye,” Lochmann wrote in a blog post. “I hit the brakes, focusing on a massive mound of garbage.”
As she inched closer, she saw nothing at first, thinking the dog had escaped. But a second glance revealed a heartbreaking sight.
“All of a sudden, I saw him,” Lochmann said. “There he was—curled up tightly between garbage bags. His dark fur camouflaged him perfectly among the trash.”
As she approached, the dog didn’t flinch or attempt to run. He simply lay there, too defeated to react.
“He didn’t get up. In fact, he did the opposite. He just lay there, as if waiting for the world to pass him by,” Lochmann shared. “It wasn’t until I was nearly beside him that he slowly lifted his head. His eyes—so hollow and full of loneliness—gazed up at me.”
The poor pup was painfully thin, his ribs jutting out in a way that revealed months of neglect. His eyes told the story of a dog who had lost all hope.
“He had the look of complete surrender, as if he believed I’d abandon him like everyone else,” Lochmann wrote. “He laid his head back down, expecting me to leave.”
But Lochmann wasn’t about to walk away. Determined to help, she gently placed a leash around the dog’s neck. The pup didn’t budge.
“I knelt down, scooped him up in my arms, and spoke softly to him, reassuring him he wasn’t alone,” Lochmann recalled. “I carried him to the Jeep, laid down some blankets, and gently placed him inside.”
The dog curled back up, just as he had in the trash pile, but this time he was surrounded by warmth and care.
As they drove to SRSL’s headquarters, Lochmann felt a strong bond with the dog and decided on the perfect name—Kismet, meaning ‘Fate.’
“I couldn’t believe I found him on that dark morning. He could have easily gone unnoticed,” Lochmann wrote.
At SRSL, Kismet was welcomed with open arms. The team quickly developed a plan to help him regain his strength and weight. For the first time, Kismet was tucked into a real bed, surrounded by love and care, while they searched for a foster home.
A few days later, Kismet found his perfect foster mom, Nikki. The moment he entered his new home, it was as if he knew he was finally safe. Nikki, eager to shower him with love, followed his treatment plan—adding plenty of cuddles and kisses along the way.
“He’s doing amazingly well,” Nikki wrote in an update to SRSL, shared on Facebook. “He’s gaining weight (yay!), wagging his tail, and giving lots of kisses. He sleeps so peacefully now, on every soft surface he can find.”
From a trash pile to a cozy bed, Kismet’s life was forever changed. And through it all, one thing became clear: this sweet dog had never truly given up hope. All he needed was a second chance.
