“Despite the blatant abuse, he is the sweetest boy.”
When Bam arrived at a rescue shelter in Newark, New Jersey, he did something that stopped everyone in their tracks.
He smiled.
A happy face hiding a painful past
From his very first day, Bam stood at the front of his kennel, tail wagging, grinning at anyone who walked by. The staff were smitten. But as they got to know him better, the full picture began to emerge.
His body was emaciated. His teeth had been shaved down. Bam was a former bait dog — an animal used in dogfighting, trained to absorb punishment without fighting back.
The smile, it turned out, had survived things that should have extinguished it entirely.
A foster mom who couldn’t walk away
Maria Garber met Bam and felt an immediate connection. When a prospective adopter failed to show up to collect him — which, given Garber’s concerns about that person’s intentions, came as a relief — she stepped in herself and offered to foster him.
He smiled the whole car ride home.
“That night, he slept in a soft bed for the first time,” Garber said. “He snored, he relaxed. And then the next morning, he woke up smiling.”
Learning what joy felt like
In Garber’s home, Bam began to discover what life was supposed to be. Long walks. Car rides with the window down. New toys. And an impressive collection of pajamas that he wore with considerable dignity.
“Despite the blatant abuse, he is the sweetest boy,” Garber said.
A family of his own
When Bam was healthy and ready, Garber knew it was time to find him something permanent. A family came to meet him almost immediately — and the moment they did, the decision was made.
They took him home and renamed him Carmy.
Six months on, Carmy is a couch dog and a cuddle champion, brought to life even further by the two kids in his new family. The boy who once stood smiling in a shelter kennel now has exactly what he always deserved.
“We couldn’t be more in love,” his new family wrote. “So happy Carmy found his way into our lives.”
“He will never know a cage again,” Garber said. “Never know cruelty again. He’ll only know love.”