A Dog Left for Dead got a New Life. Twice.

It’s sad to think that someone might abandon a pet. But it’s tragic that someone might deliberately leave a dog in a place no one was likely to find it, like a fenced-in area around telephone equipment.

Especially after binding her hind legs with rope.

Luckily for Dora, a year-old Boxer mix, AT&T technician David Baxter opened the gate to check the remote terminal equipment and found her just in time. He said she was at the back of the enclosure and appeared to have been there for some time.

“The dog was scared to death and hid from me at first,” David said. “She was painfully thin, and finally hunger won out when I offered her some water and the sandwich from my lunch. Then I was able to get the rope off of her hind legs.”

David called his manager, Nathan Frerichs, and the two met with Animal Control to get Dora veterinary help. She was then placed with an organization called Marley’s Mutts Dog Rescue, located in Tehachapi, California.

The nonprofit was created to help find permanent homes for stray, abandoned or otherwise homeless dogs. They cater to the larger dogs (40 pounds and up) and accept any breed as long as they don’t show vicious behavior.

And now this story has an even happier ending.

A colleague shared the story with Kevin P. Smith, an AT&T senior technology project manager from San Ramon.  After a quick discussion with his wife, Karen, Kevin called Marley’s Mutts to make adoption arrangements.

The couple, along with their dog, Dante, made the six-hour trek to meet Dora in person on Saturday. Kevin said it was love at first sight. After completing all the paperwork, the Smiths took Dora home.

“Dora is a very special and loving dog,” Kevin said. “She begins to wag her short Boxer tail, looks you directly in the eye and you are owned.”

That’s Dora’s happy ending.