Burned Pupppy Has a New Home and New Purpose

For months, concerned North Carolina citizens and animal lovers across the nation have been following the saga of Susie, a puppy found in a Greensboro park with burns on 60 percent of her body. An employee at the shelter where animal control brought the dog said she had severe burns over her back, belly, and head, plus some broken bones, and wounds that were infected with maggots, reports the WFMY News in Greensboro.

At first no one knew who had set the 3-month-old pup on fire, but a Crimestoppers tip led to the arrest of Lashawn Demaro Whitehead, 20.

Over the course of Susie's recovery, volunteers at the Guilford Animal Shelter used Twitter to keep her growing community of fans up to date on her progress. Hundreds of people came forward to try to adopt her, but the shelter wanted to make absolutely sure that the dog, who has obviously already been through a lot, would go to just the right home.

Now, finally, Susie has a new family. According to WFMY News, she has been adopted by Donna Lawrence, owner of Greensboro's Kutting Edge Hair Salon. Lawrence, who was attacked by a pit bull last year, said, "I think my story compared to her story, being attacked by a human. We both had to overcome our fears so that kind of attracted me to her."

"She's doing good, she is happy, she's energetic, she loves being in my back yard, she plays with my other dog, my cat -- so she's doing great," Lawrence said. She brings Susie to work with her at the salon, in part to socialize the dog with people. As she explained, "I want to use her for a therapy dog eventually to help with burn victims or cancer."

Marsha Williams, the owner of Guilford Animal Shelter, told Paw Nation that many people had volunteered to take Susie after reading about her story, but that their goal was to find someone who really wanted her for who she was. She went on to say, "We talk to Donna [Susie's new owner] almost every day. We had to send over a trainer to teach Donna how to interact with Susie so that she would respect Donna as leader in the house. When Susie decided it was her house she wanted to be dominant. You can't feel sorry for her and baby her. You have to treat her like any other dog."

Susie's new owner and the shelter plan to work together to use Susie as an advocate for animal cruelty prevention and education programs, and as a therapy dog.

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