Laura and Takia first crossed paths the day that Laura drove past a dog chained up to a tree in someone’s backyard. As a concerned dog lover, Laura immediately went to scout out the situation, and say hello to the dog.

When Laura approached the fence, she wasn’t sure how the big Akita dog was going to react. Much to her surprise, the dog was very happy to see her – wagging her tail and greeting Laura with lots of kisses. While the two exchanged greetings, Laura quickly noticed just how bad the dog’s situation was.

It was clear that this dog had spent all her time chained up outdoors based on her muddy coat and the makeshift bed she’d dug for herself in the ground. There were two large bowls beside the tree, but both were empty meaning that she had no access to food or water. That is when Laura and Takia kicked off their relationship.

Laura then began to stop by the house multiple times a week in order to bring the chained up dog food. As each visit occurred, the dog began to bond more with Laura, and soon was recognizing her car – she even began doing a little happy dance every time she saw Laura’s car pull up. The closer they got, the more Laura wanted to find a way to get her out of her outdoor life.

She told The Dodo, “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh I have to take this dog. I’m gonna have to steal it, I’m gonna have to do something for it.’ I was like, ‘No I’ll go to jail for this dog.’”

Within weeks of meeting Takia, Laura reached out to animal control. After animal control surveyed the scene, they informed Laura regarding the rules of Takia’s unfortunate circumstances. So long as her owners provided her with a doghouse and adequate food and water, there was nothing that they could do.

Heartbroken, Laura refused to give up on Takia. She told animal control that Takia’s bowl is almost always empty by the time she arrives, so she said she’d take it upon herself to keep feeding her. Animal control agreed and told her to call them should Takia’s situation ever change.

Throughout the year, Laura continued her visits to Takia. As winter came and went, Takia stayed outside the whole time. With the approaching summer heat, Laura began to worry about how Takia was going to fare. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything that she could do about it. She decided to make one more desperate plea to animal control.

Finally, after Takia’s owners failed to offer her adequate care, animal control was able to make them surrender her over to their care. Once Takia was free from her former home, Laura was first in like to adopt her. Once she took her home, she renamed her Takia.

As Laura said, “As soon as we got here home, she was so used to not doing anything all day long. Now the second she gets to run around, she’s gone. I was like holy cow this is a brand new dog.”

As it turns out, once Laura and Takia’s story got out, it made the rounds, eventually circling back to a woman who had lived beside Takia’s previous owners. The woman had said that she too had once contacted animal control regarding Takia’s situation, and was told the same exact thing.

As the woman explained, “I am so glad she got her! I live next door and we also fed her and called animal control and they would tell us the same thing about the house. My husband would bring her food and water and my sister-in-law across the street would too. So animal control must have thought the owner was but they never did. They just yelled at her. I’m so happy she has a good home!”

Takia is now living her happily ever after with Laura. The pair are inseparable and go on plenty of outdoor adventures together, as well as have lots of cuddle time together.

“There’s just something about her. I got super lucky, I really did,” Laura said.

We’re so happy that Laura persevered and managed to get Takia away from her awful living situation. We wish this pair a long life of happiness together.

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