The people who used to own Ashley hardly fed her, rarely took her outside and, in the end, they simply abandoned her.
Thankfully, Erica Mahnken, cofounder of No More Pain Rescue, and her fiance Michael Favor, rescued the 1-year-old pit bull in January of 2017.
“We received a call from someone reporting that a couple was residing in an abandoned house. They didn’t have heat or power, and there was a dog in the house “Shortly after the rescue, Mahnken informed The Dodo.
The pair presumably departed when a snowfall came. “I think they went looking for a warm place to stay and left the dog behind,” Mahnken speculated. “So we rushed and retrieved her as soon as we got the phone call.”
Favor made Mahnken stay in the car while he ventured inside to find the dog. He’d later tell Mahnken how bad it was. “There was no electricity in the house — it was freezing,” Mahnken said. “No food, no water for her. The house was a disaster. The windows were broken, and there was feces all over the place.”
Ashley, on the other hand, was undamaged, and when Favor walked her out, she looked like the happiest dog on the block.
“She came racing down, giddy,” Mahnken remarked. “She hopped into my car right away.”
Ashley was emaciated and frail. “Her ribs were all you could see since she was so thin. She was also 25 pounds underweight, according to the vet.”
Ashley also had cigarette burns on the top of her head, which they observed.
Since No More Pain Rescue doesn’t have a physical shelter, Mahnken and Favor needed to get Ashley straight into a foster home. They had friends in the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), and knew there used to be a dog at the Fort Pitt station. So Mahnken and Favor asked if the firefighters would hold onto Ashley until they found her a proper home.
Ashley seemed just fine with this arrangement.
“As soon as she walked into the firehouse, her tail was wagging, and she was licking and greeting everybody,” Mahnken said. “She was super happy. From where she came from, you wouldn’t really expect that. You would think that she’d be a little skittish, but she wasn’t at all.”
Not unexpectedly, the firefighting team contacted Mahnken a few days later, requesting that Ashley be kept.
“They said, ‘We’re going to adopt her. We just love her so much. She is at home here,'” Mahnken said. “So I was thrilled. And as soon as I walked her in there, I knew that that’s where she belonged.”
Ashley now lives at the firehouse full-time.
“She’s always on the go — she goes on shorter runs with them, she rides in the fire truck with them,” Mahnken explained. “They take her for a stroll approximately 30 times a day. They take her up on the roof to play with her. She’s always watching them dine in the kitchen. She has a never-ending supply of snacks. She’s living the high life over there.”
Ashley even has her seat in the fire truck, according to Mahnken.
“I’m so glad we got her into a home that will show her nothing but love, and not make her into the pit bull that people love to hate so quickly,” Mahnken said. “It was an unbelievable feeling to know that that’s where she belonged.”
Four years later, Ashley is still loving her life at the firehouse — and the fire fighters love her.
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