Abandoned dog chained, discovered outside Detroit animal shelter

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A dog was dumped at a shelter a few days ago, with a wire around her neck. Today, she is safe at a foster home.

Rebel Dogs Detroit was surprised to find the dog, named Bowie, chained to their gate and hungry.

"She is the sweetest girl ever. She was brought to us probably two weeks ago by a lady that finds dogs all the time," said Jordan Clarke with Rebel Dogs Detroit.

And after the shelter asked the woman who brought her in to foster her, she agreed. Rebel Dogs Detroit gave the woman the supplies she needed.

However, "about a week later, she texted us saying she couldn’t feed the dog anymore and that she decided to foster," Clarke said.

The woman never filled out a foster application.

"I told her to come for food; she didn’t show up," Clarke said. "And then a few days later is when this poor baby was tied to the gate in the torrential downpour."

When the shelter staff found Bowie, they untied her and took her in from the rain.

"It was pretty heartbreaking to see," Clarke said.

Bowie (Provided by Rebel Dogs Detroit)

Rebel Dogs say if you find yourself in this situation, where you have a dog you cannot care for, there are options instead of dumping the pup.

"They can feel scarce and hard to reach, but there are options to different community-based groups that can give you food support, medical care support," said the shelter's executive director, Juniper Fleming.

Call around to different shelters, Fleming added. Shelters can help with short-term and long-term solutions.

"(They can) hopefully set you up with programs that can maybe make it easier for you to maintain housing and caring for your pet," Fleming said. "Because that’s the goal, really – is retention."

And as for Bowie, she is now healing at her new foster home.

"These dogs are pretty resilient," Clarke said. "I mean, it’s amazing the things that they can go through and turn right around and be the best dog ever."