When Faith Easdale first laid eyes on the little poodle, it wasn’t the dog’s sad, matted fur that caught her attention—it was the faded, dirty pink dress she wore. Once a sign of love and care, the tattered fabric now seemed like a symbol of abandonment. There the poodle sat, day after day, in the same spot on a busy California street, as if waiting for her family to return. Surely, they hadn’t forgotten her? But as time went on, her posture slumped, and her hope seemed to fade.
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Easdale, a rescuer with Dream Fetchers, knew she had to intervene. She couldn’t stand the thought of this little dog, dressed up but abandoned, left to fend for herself.
“I thought, ‘Oh no, poor baby, just sitting there waiting,’” Easdale shared on Facebook. “I rushed over, but she wasn’t there. My heart sank—had she found a safe place, or was she still out there? I kept searching.”
With the help of a friend, they began asking around. Finally, a man mentioned seeing the dog for days, sometimes hiding in the bushes. Easdale’s heart broke when she finally spotted the poodle—lonely and scared.
“We quietly set up baby gates around her,” Easdale recalled. “I approached slowly because she was so terrified.” But with patience and soft words, the dog began to trust her. Soon enough, the little poodle curled into Easdale’s lap and showered her with gentle kisses.
After removing the filthy dress and offering the dog a warm meal and a soft blanket, Easdale took her home for a much-needed bath. Despite her tangled fur, she seemed to be in good health—no chip, no collar, and no sign of an owner.
“We rarely get the full story,” Easdale explained to The Dodo. “But usually, if someone’s looking for their pet, they come forward quickly. It’s heartbreaking when they don’t.”
After a trip to the groomer, the poodle emerged looking like a brand-new dog. Her groomers fittingly named her Sugar, a nod to her sweet disposition.
“This is where the magic happens,” Easdale wrote in a Facebook post. “It’s like a Cinderella story. Giving them a second chance is what drives us to keep doing what we do.”
Now, Sugar is searching for a foster home where she can recover from her time on the streets, and soon, Easdale hopes she’ll find a family who will give her the love and loyalty she so deeply deserves.
