An aggressive stray dog had evidently become a nuisance to some people near where he was making his home. Sadly, one of those people decided to abandon the dog near a landfill as if they were nothing but a piece of trash.

The poor dog, who would later be named Rocky, lived by the landfill all alone. He would use broken-down chairs as a bed.

Even if Rocky was aggressive, this is no way for any animal to live.

Rocky was exposed to the elements.

Without proper care or shelter, Rocky was exposed to the elements. He was vulnerable to dehydration, malnutrition, ticks, worms, and other diseases.

Fortunately, someone notified Takis Shelter about the poor dog’s situation.

The rescue organization is run by a man named Theoklitos Proestakis, nicknamed Takis, who gave up his career as a disc jockey to dedicate his life to caring for abandoned dogs.

“Since 2014, Takis Shelter has re-homed over 600 animals. Yet, there are hundreds of dogs and cats still looking for their Forever Homes, so please visit the Adoption page to find your best friend,” the organization’s website reads.

Takis Shelter rescues Rocky.

Rocky’s luck was about to change. When his rescuers first arrived, however, Rocky was hesitant to trust them.

This was a dog who had never known the love of a family before and his past experiences with humans had not been positive.

The rescuers gave Rocky plenty of space at first, and let him warm up to the idea of accepting help.

When one rescuer finally did try and get close to Rocky, he lashed out and snarled at them. Rocky was not going to be an easy rescue.

He clearly did not trust humans.

It would take Rocky a long time to trust his rescuers.

There would be no rescuing Rocky right away. They would have to earn his trust and that was not going to be easy.

A rescuer would return to the landfill every day to check on his well-being. They would offer him food and water and attempt to give him medicine for ticks, fleas, and worms.

Eventually Rocky learned to trust them.

It would take weeks of this routine until Rocky began to trust the humans he would see every day. Eventually, he no longer started seeing them as a threat.

After some time, Rocky even started to enjoy being petted by them. Then, he seemed to completely fall in love with them and enjoyed their visits.

Rocky had turned into a gentle giant. He was no longer the aggressive stray he had once been.

Rocky is taken to Takis Shelter.

Once Rocky began to trust humans, he was taken to Takis Shelter. The shelter offers him plenty of room to roam around and other animals to make friends with.

“Set up over six years ago, and with the sole purpose of rescuing the stray, abandoned animals of Crete, Takis Shelter currently cares for over 400 dogs and cats,” a description of the shelter reads.

“Based in Ierapetra, the South of Crete, the rescued dogs, and cats have up to 33,000 square meters of private, enclosed olive groves to run around in.”

Learn more about Rocky’s story in the video below.

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Source: Takis Shelter/Facebook – the Dodo