This is the story of a girl, who was so little and changed my whole world. She looked so sad in photographs, but with love and patience, now she’s ours. #sweetlittleTwyla

Twyla was found and captured in a wooded area in Mansfield in April 2023. She was emaciated, weighing only 29 pounds. Most of her hair was gone, except for a little fawn patch on the top of her head. Fleas, ticks, heartworm… She was in critical condition. GALT made a post asking for an emergency medical foster for this petite girl, and I remember a gut feeling that this was my opportunity to finally take in a sick dog and help nurse it back to health. The plan was to keep her for 10 days until another foster family could take her, so we volunteered to bring her home. The goal was to get her to gain weight healthily and get her ready to be adopted.

Within moments of having her home, I was already smitten with her little face. She toured the house and plopped right down on a dog bed, as if she knew it was hers all along. She spent many hours sleeping and recovering in her crate, with Benji (our other GALT foster) keeping a watchful protecting eye over her.

Potty training turned into a disastrous moment when she tried to go in the house, and I came running and tried to take her outside, and she got so so scared that she snapped at my face and landed her teeth right into my chin. Unfortunately, we did not know her rabies status, so we were faced with two options per the law: a week of quarantine at the vet, or euthanasia. I sobbed and sobbed because I already loved her so much and I didn’t want to let her go. We dropped her off at the vet for quarantine, and when she came back, I felt like my heart was whole again.

She gradually began to gain weight, and her hair started to grow back after many many many medicated baths. The most spectacular transformation was when she started to use toys and get on the couch. I remember the first time she got on the couch and laid her head on my leg. It was so beautiful, and I started to feel like maybe this “10 days of fostering” wasn’t going to work out because I didn’t want to let her go. Luckily, GALT understood my affection for her and let us keep fostering her.

It took over a year to get her cleared from heartworm, and when she finally tested negative, we planned to finally get her spayed. Naturally, we scheduled it and just days before the procedure, Twyla got into heat, and we had to postpone that procedure. By now, we had already decided we wanted to keep her, but we had to push back the adoption until after she was medically cleared.

Adoption day came, and Twyla Pyles, one of the ladies who helped capture Twyla, came to join us to celebrate. She brought Twyla her first Lampchop! Now we have THREE! We adopted this sweet girl, and then moved to Colorado!

Shortly after moving, we noticed Twyla’s nose was constantly dripping. We took her to our new vet and it turns out she has aspergillosis, which is a nasal fungus she probably got while still in Texas. Never a dull moment! So now she’s taking long term medication to keep it under control. Luckily now we don’t have to bathe her every other day – just occasionally after she spends the lay lying in the dirt!

Some of my favorite things about Twyla include her derpy tongue that always pops out the side, the way she does a booty dance when you scritch her butt just right, her happy hops, her singing, and her energetic zoomies when she twirls in circles. She is such a sweet girl who loves to receive affection. We are so so so fortunate that she appeared in our lives, and we love her dearly.