Pedro's Long Journey Ends at Loma Linda Home
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March 11, 2005, LOMA LINDA, CALIFORNIA It has been a difficult journey for Pedro the dog, but he finally has the home he was always meant to have. The 2-year-old Australian Shepherd has loving parents and a beautiful yard. He now has toys and a warm spot to lie between Resa and Donald Chase for an evening of TV-watching.
"He just loves people," Resa said.
Playful and full of energy, he loves to run. He's smart and unburdened by how close he came to dying or how hard two deputies and one couple worked to save him.
Pedro still trusts people. A fortunate thing considering people didn't always earn his trust, Donald and Resa said.
In September 2004, Pedro was found living in filth in the back yard of a Chino Hills home. Chained to a fence in the back yard, he drank out of a rusty hubcap. He ate a piece of raw meat that someone had hung up near him. It had rotted in the sun and was infested with maggots.
Pedro was very thin.
"His chain was maybe seven or eight feet," said Kathy Oros, a detective with the county Sheriff's Department. She and two fellow deputies found Pedro surrounded by his own feces.
To look at him now, it was almost as if nothing ever happened, she said. "He looks so much better," Oros said.
On Wednesday, the detective visited with Pedro for the first time since the Chase family adopted him. "Pedro had that same big smile on his face," Oros said. "I remember it was a very hot day. But he was smiling."
Oros was not on the day she met Pedro. She and deputies Kim Swanson and Kevin Allen had to hold their breath as they approached the home. The stench of rotting meat was so powerful, it wafted through the neighborhood. One neighbor called authorities to report it.
"Kim heard the call and went right away," Oros said. "She knows what I'm like and I know what she's like." The women are both dog owners. Swanson wanted to be sure they were ready in case the scene was horribly bad.
"When I got there I saw his condition and said, No, no, no,'" Oros said.
During questioning, the home's residents told Oros, "Oh yeah, we wanted a mean dog to protect the family," she said.
"I told them, Well you got the wrong dog,'" she said.
Appalled, they took Pedro from the home and placed him at the animal shelter in Devore, where he was diagnosed with an ear infection and worms, Donald Chase said.
"They were going to put him down," Oros said. "I thought, No, you can't do that.'"
She turned to the only place she knew, the media. Sending in his photo and story, Oros told the dog's story to several publications. That led to another chance encounter.
"There was an article in the section of the paper that I rarely ever read," Donald said. The human interest tale of a dog without a home tugged at Donald, who showed his wife.
"We called the shelter," Donald said. "They told us there was so much interest in the dog, there would be a drawing to see who got the dog."
Their hearts sank. The two are in the health-care industry and were not able to attend the drawing. But instead of giving up, they decided to visit Pedro and see who had won the drawing. It turns out no one did, they said. "No one showed up for the drawing," Donald said.
It meant the Chase family got Pedro and Pedro got to live.
"He loves little treats," Resa said. "And he loves to ride in the car."
The former owners, Mona Cazares and Jose Camacho, now face felony animal cruelty charges. A court date has yet to be set, and no one in the District Attorney's Office has been assigned to the case yet.
"I was so surprised they did that, but very happy," Oros said.
