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Watch a timid shelter dog named 'Venom' transform with some tender care and a new name

Rocky Kanaka knew "Venom" wasn't a fitting name for this sweet girl, and he sat with her to earn her trust.

Rocky Kanaka/YouTube

Venom was unsure at first but warmed up after a while.

Dogs are a man's best friend, as the saying goes, but that's only true when humans treat them as they should be treated. When someone neglects, abuses or otherwise mistreats a dog, their sense of trust in human companionship gets disrupted and doesn't come as naturally as it should.

It's common to see issue with dogs who end up in shelters. They might be timid, suspicious or fearful, and living in a kennel in a shelter away from everything familiar doesn't help. Even if a shelter is better than the unhealthy situation they came from, it's certainly not ideal, which is one reason Rocky Kanaka goes to visit and sit with shelter dogs. If he can help a dog feel safe and convince it to to trust him, he kick-starts the process of repairing the dog-human bond.

One dog Kanaka sat with was a 3-year-old black Shepherd mix named "Venom." She was curled up in the corner of her kennel and wasn't too keen on having him coming into her space. She wasn't aggressive, but guarded. Her self-protective instincts seemed on, so Kanaka took it very slow.

He began by turning his back to her and squatting down, not interacting with her other than to speak soothingly, just to let her get used to his presence. He brought some treats, which he shared with her before sitting down. She kept looking at him with a mix of curiosity and trepidation, and Kanaka respected her space.

He found out she had been at the shelter for 10 days, which Kanaka said was bad because if a dog is still in this kind of nervous state after 10 days in the shelter, it's harder for them to get adopted. Soon, he got her to take treats from his hand, which enabled him to move a little closer to her—the goal being to eventually get her to approach him.

Then Kanaka got her story, including that her name was Venom and this was her second time in the shelter. The first time, her owners were on vacation, The second time a good samaritan brought her in, and the shelter couldn't get a hold of the owners. When they were finally reached, the owners said that she had not been behaving well with their smaller dog and they didn't want her anymore.

Kanaka didn't cast judgment on the owners for giving her up, but he was totally taken aback by her given name.

"Come on. Venom? She is anything but that. It should be like, Honeysuckle, you know? Or something sweet. Something sweet like Honey. I think that's her name, Honey."

Watch how this sweet puppers slowly warms up to Kanaka and begins to trust him:

Watching her eventually melt into a state of relaxation as Kanaka scratched her head was so rewarding. You can tell that she's a good girl who's been through some rough times, and she'd be an incredible dog for someone who took good care of her.

"Her eyes and brows are so expressive. You can read the concern in her face," wrote one commenter.

"That poor baby is heart broken. She knows she was left and lost family. I feel you baby," wrote another.

"What a sweet little fluff," shared another. "How could anyone just abandon her and not think she's worth the fee will baffle me for all of time. And to call her 'Venom' is not only an insult to her, but an insight into the life she could have previously had and how her last 'owners thought of her. Can't wait for her to find her forever home and finally get all the love she deserves."

Thankfully, according to an update on Kanaka's website, Honey was adopted on March 8, 2024. So hopefully, she did find a forever home with people who will appreciate and nurture her naturally sweet disposition and give her the life she should have.

You can follow Rocky Kanaka for more "Sitting with Dogs" videos on YouTube and on his website rockykanaka.com.

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A brave dog saved an injured hiker from hypothermia by laying on him for 13 hours

via HrvatskaGSS/Facebook and Maarten/Flickr

Grga Brkić being rescued and an Alaskan malamute puppy.

An incredible story from Croatia shows just how far dogs will go to take care of their human companions and how in-tune they can be to our needs.

Grga Brkić was climbing the highest peak of the Velebit mountain range about 5,800 feet above Croatia’s Adriatic coastline on Sunday when he fell nearly 500 feet down a snowy slope. The fall resulted in Brkić severely fracturing his leg, rendering him completely immobile. He had to be frightened knowing there was nothing he could do to prevent himself from dying of hypothermia.

Two nearby hikers spotted Brkić and his companion North, an eight-month-old Alaskan malamute, at the bottom of the embankment but were unable to safely get to them. So they sent for rescuers.

Brkić lay in the snow shivering, so his canine companion laid on top of him to keep him warm until help arrived. Alaskan malamutes do particularly well in cold weather and can withstand temperatures as low as -20°F. They have thick, waterproof double coats that can keep them warm even in the frozen Arctic.

The two waited for 13 hours in the freezing cold until more than a dozen first responders arrived at the scene. When they got to the pair they were amazed to find the dog had “curled around [Brkić] and warmed him.”

Brkić later told Croatian media that “The minutes and seconds before they arrived were so slow” but “this little dog is a real miracle.”

The Croation emergency mountaineers, the Hrvatska Gorska Služba Spašavanja, got to work trying to save the hiker and his dog in what they later called “one of the most difficult rescue operations” they had ever attempted.

Throughout the entire ordeal, the dog refused to detach from his friend.

“The dog was curled up next to the owner in the pit the entire time; he warmed his owner with his body, thus preventing the mountaineer’s significant hypothermia who suffered a severe fracture of the lower leg and ankle when he fell,” Josip Brozičević, head of the Croatian mountain rescue services, said.

The rescuers were finally able to save the hiker and his brave dog and they were airlifted by helicopter to a nearby hospital. At the hospital, the hiker went through an emergency operation. The dog was unharmed in the incident.

After Sunday’s rescue, the Brkić family shared an update on Grga and North, letting everyone know they were doing just fine.

“North is home, saying hello and relaxing,” wrote Antonija Sjauš Brkić. “Grga is going to be fine. HGSS … we have no words … thank you!!!”

The rescuers say the dog’s bravery and compassion are a lesson that we can all learn from. “Friendship and love between man and dog have no boundaries,” rescuers wrote on Sunday. “His loyalty did not stop even from the arrival of the savior … From this example, we can all learn about caring for one another.”

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Chihuahua that went viral for being a 'Chucky doll' finds his forever home

via Tyfanee Fortuna / Facebook

Earlier this month, a Facebook post by Tyfanee Fortuna went viral for her hilarious description of Prancer, a Chihuahua she was fostering. Fortuna was frustrated because she had tried to make the dog seem presentable to potential adopters for months, but nothing was working.

So, she went for broke by taking the brutally honest route, and people loved her candor.

"Ok, I've tried. I've tried for the last several months to post this dog for adoption and make him sound...palatable. The problem is, he's just not," Fortuna wrote. "There's not a very big market for neurotic, man hating, animal hating, children hating dogs that look like gremlins. But I have to believe there's someone out there for Prancer, because I am tired and so is my family."

One of the big reasons it was tough finding a home for the dog is because he hates men.

"Prancer only likes women. Nothing else. He hates men more than women do, which says a lot," she wrote. "If you have a husband don't bother applying, unless you hate him."

The dog is also terribly nervous and really, really angry.

"Every day we live in the grips of the demonic Chihuahua hellscape he has created in our home," she continued. "If you own a Chihuahua you probably know what I'm talking about. He's literally the Chihuahua meme that describes them as being 50% hate and 50% tremble. If you're intrigued and horrified at how this animal sounds already, just wait....there's more."

Fortuna went on to describe the dog in terms familiar to horror fans, calling him a "chucky doll in a dogs body" and a "vessel for a traumatized Victorian child."

The post went viral on Facebook earning over 70,000 shares. Although it was a great read for a lot of people, it still seemed hard to imagine anyone brave enough to adopt such an unpleasant beast.

However, when Ariel Davis, 36, from New Haven, Connecticut read the post, it inspired her to reach out to the Second Chance Pet Adoption League, located in Morris Plains, New Jersey, the shelter managing Prancer's adoption.

Davis thought that Prancer reminded her of an old dog she once had.

"I had a dog that I adopted probably about seven years ago and I raised him from a puppy and he was a Chihuahua/Jack Russel Terrier mix," she told Today. "He had a lot of the same qualities as Prancer, he was a little neurotic and he barked a lot and he didn't work well with other people and other animals. I spent a lot of time working with him and understanding his personality and learning about myself through him."

Unfortunately, Davis had to give up both of her dogs to loving families when she went to rehab a few years back for marijuana addiction.

But after being clean for three years, she thought she was able to care for a dog again. "I read the article, I connected to it, and I was like you know what, why not? I'll just send them an email. What's the worst that could happen?" she said.

Davis thought she had the perfect home for the dog because as a lesbian with a female roommate, so there's not a lot of men coming around the house. "It just felt like a perfect match… and the rest is history," she said.

Davis and Prancer have been living together for a week and things are going pretty well.

"He is a small, neurotic dog and it's been hard coming from a chaotic home," she said. But he does great on walks and has made a wonderful impact on Davis' life. "We're one week into the adoption and he's really changed my life, too."

Davis and Prancer look like they have a wonderful future together.

"He's helped me get out of the house actually and we go on walks and I want to take him to the beach," she said. "He's helping me get out of my shell and one of my goals is to help him become more adjusted to seeing other people."









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A woman in the Bahamas took in nearly 100 stray dogs to save them from Hurricane Dorian

Here's how you can help.

via Chella Philips / Facebook

Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas over the weekend. The category 5 hurricane was the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfall on record.

Dorian has been blamed for at least five deaths and unimaginable property destruction on the Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas.

"Nearly everything is gone" in Marsh Harbour, a town in the Abaco Islands, Bahamas Foreign Minister Darren Henfield reported, according to a U.S .State Department official.

"I have never seen destruction like this on this scale on an island before," "Good Morning America" correspondent Marcus Moore reported on Tuesday.

RELATED: Woman sets up secret camera in a bird feeder and the images are incredible

While we often consider the toll that such a monstrous hurricane has on people and property, they are also devastating for the pets and stray animals caught in the storm.

For decades, the Bahamas has had a large stray dog population, and such a hurricane is deadly for the street-roaming dogs with no food or shelter.

Chella Phillips, a woman from Nassau, the Bahamian capital, did the unthinkable and rescued 97 stray dogs and brought them to her home to protect them from Dorian. Phillips is a dog enthusiast who runs the Facebook page "The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas."

On Monday morning, she shared a post on Facebook describing the scene in her home.

"97 dogs are inside my house and 79 of them are inside my master bedroom," she wrote. "It has been insane since lastnight, poop and piss non stop but at least they are respecting my bed and nobody has dared to jump in."

"We have barricaded the refuge and nobody is outside," she continued, "the music is playing in all directions of the house and the AC is blowing for them."

While Nassau wasn't hit as hard as the Abaco Islands to the north, Phillips home flooded and she isn't sure what to do with the dogs after the hurricane passes through.

"I still have 79 dogs at my refuge, and there doesn't seem to be many rescues willing to help me with finding them homes," she wrote. "Without partner rescues taking in some of my babies, they will be stuck here in limbo, just waiting for the future that I promised them."

RELATED: People are freaking out because they can't tell if the animal in viral video is a bird or a rabbit

Phillips hopes to give the dogs forever homes with families, but it seems unlikely on an island that is already overrun by homeless dogs.

However, people have been chipping in to help Phillips care for the dogs and find them homes. A fundraiser with a goal of $20,000 was established and it has already received over $84,000 in donations.

"I need you all for financial support, to continue helping this island's homeless. Just as important, I need your help to find forever homes for my babies," Phillips plead.

To help Phillip's efforts to save the dogs of Nassau, click here.

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