Then Sombra would do something that answered me.
He would crawl toward the sling when he saw it.
He would push his chest up before I touched him.
He would attempt to position his own rear paws.Find Pet Care
He wanted to move.
Not for me.
For himself.
Three weeks after rescue, something changed.
We were in the backyard.
I had the sling beneath his abdomen.
Usually I could feel most of his weight through the straps.
That morning, for perhaps two seconds, the pressure disappeared.
I looked down.
Sombra was standing.
All four paws beneath him.
No sling support.
I stopped breathing.
“Sombra.”
His legs trembled.
“Stay.”
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then his rear end collapsed gently into the sling.
I shouted so loudly that my neighbor opened her window.
“Is everything okay?”
“He stood!”
“What?”
“He stood!”
Sombra stared at me as if I had lost my mind.
