LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A stray shepherd mix has made a Lexington neighborhood his home for the last 10 months, but recently, the Lexington-Fayette Animal Care and Control was able to finally rescue Steve.
Steve has been roaming around the Von List Way area in Lexington for almost a year.
Lexington-Fayette Animal Care and Control was able to safely rescue him on Von List Way and keep in a stray hold for someone to claim. However, no one showed up.
Steve was then brought to the Lexington Humane Society, where they have created a plan to care for him.
"Steve had become very friendly with a lot of the dogs in the neighborhood he was in and the people there got to know him and love him and so he was always very wary of people,” explains Hannah Ferrell, the Lexington Humane Society Outreach Spokesperson."Still pretty shut down. Pretty scared. He is just still learning to trust that humans are good and nice and want to help him. Want to feed him. Want to take care of him."
Ferrell believes the shepherd mix is between 5 and 7 years old. She stresses he is not aggressive, just scared.
In the beginning, he was cowering in the corner and hiding under his bed. Now, he’s starting to approach humans a little more and sitting a little bit closer.
"We'll have them come a couple times a day. Have them come, set up a chair right outside of his kennel. Just talk to him, read him a story. Sometimes just having a human being in his eyesight, in his presence. Just give him a couple treats and show him again that humans are nothing he should be scared of. That' just something he needs to learn.” details Ferrel.
Ferrell says lots of people from the neighborhood who knew Steve have come to visit and drop off items with the scents of the dogs he befriended.
For now, Steve will call LHS his home until he is ready and confident to find his forever home.
If Steve’s story tugged at your heartstrings and you would like to visit him, just go to the LHS website to fill out an adoption form.
We’ll keep you updated on Steve’s journey.
