Clementine’s past is kind of a mystery. It isn’t known if she was traumatized before coming to the shelter or if being put on death row was what caused her neuroses.
But poor Clementine was terrified and untrusting by the time her new human mom Chelsea rescued her from being euthanized.
She wouldn’t make eye contact and just stared at the wall for weeks shaking in fear.
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“We heard about this dog who would be euthanized. We saw her picture and fell in love. She had no idea what was going on,” Chelsea said of her bringing the dog home.
Clementine was very skittish on the ride home from the kill shelter but Chelsea assured her that she wasn’t going to hurt her.
In fact, Chelsea promised Clementine that she would love her forever. When they finally arrive at Chelsea’s home she assured Clementine that this was her forever home now.
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“She was very skeptical. She kind of just stopped in the doorway and looked around for couple of minutes before actually entering. Then she started to kind of slowly walk around and sniffing,” Chelsea told The Dodo.
Clementine was given a nice warm doggy sweater to wear to have her feel a little more cozy and safe.
But it didn’t seem to help all that much.
“She would just sit there starring at walls shaking. I think it was just so overwhelming,” Chelsea said.
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Several months had gone by without Clementine making any contact.
“Then slowly it was just a little bit of eye contact. Some days we would think that she was totally over her scared phase. And then the next day she would be scared of us again, so it was definitely a process.”
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Chelsea decided the best thing that could be done for Clementine was to just give her the time and space she needed to heal and learn to trust her new parents.
And treats… they also gave her a lot of treats.
“When she did wander over to us, we would just pet her really gently. It’s been just the cutest sweetest thing watching her come out of her shell,” Chelsea said.
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Since her rescue, Clementine has been making leaps and bounds of progress.
She was so skinny that you could see her ribs when Chelsea first took her home.
Now she’s gained weight and the skin on her ears and face have drastically improved.
It took a few weeks, but Clementine even made friends with Chelsea’s two other dogs.
“They’ve been in separable ever since,” Chelsea said. “Her favorite thing is playing with her brother and sister now.”
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Chelsea says that adopting Clementine not only changed Clementine’s life but also hers.
“Getting her health mentally and physically and just watching her transformation has been the most rewarding experience of my life,” Chelsea said.
Learn more about Clementine’s loving transformation in the video below.
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