Written by 50 Pounds of Dog Food co-founder Robert Blatt

When people ask me why I care so much about dogs, I tell them that it all started with a diamond ring from Tiffany’s. For Christmas 2007, I bought my wife a Tiffany’s diamond wedding band. We shared Christmas morning together and she loved the gift.

On December 29th, 2007, my wife and I were walking on Luquillo Beach in Puerto Rico on a pit stop after visiting one of Puerto Rico’s rain forests. Near the bathroom closest to the parking lot, I heard some yelping, but couldn’t make out the direction it was coming from. Amber was going to the bathroom and I went exploring to find where this yelping was coming from. Behind the bathroom was a truck, under one of the tires of the trucks was a little dog who was yelping. He seemed happy to see me approaching and stopped yelping. He might have stopped yelping, but he didn’t start moving anything but his head. Amber found where I was and became upset immediately.

In a kennel Connecticut was two dogs that we shared our lives with. One of these dogs was originally from Puerto Rico and had found her way to a Connecticut shelter and eventually into our home. When we went to Puerto Rico, we knew there was a chance to see what life was like for these street dogs, referred to as “satos”. They weren’t wild, but weren’t tame either. Leeloo can scale a five foot fence with ease and was great at finding extra food and hiding it around the house. She knew how to look cute and make people want to feed her. When she entered our home she was manipulative and mischievous, but we loved her anyway.

In Puerto Rico, there was a little puppy hanging out in the shade under a pickup truck yelping whenever he was left alone. It broke Amber’s heart right away. We set out to find him some water, and someone in our group was kind enough to share some water from an Aquafina bottle with the little guy. He wasn’t moving his hind legs and I was fearing that his back or legs were broken and this story wouldn’t have a happy ending.

It was the last full day of our week long vacation and we spent the rest of the afternoon in our hotel room calling different places around the island of Puerto Rico and the United States. The hotel concierge was not much help, offering the advice to not worry about it because the police patrol the beach and would find the dog and take care of him. We continued our phone calls and web surfing until we came across someone in Florida, Ginny, who we pleaded our case to. Ginny runs an organization called Manos for Patas, or Hands for Paws, that helps dogs from Puerto Rico find homes in the United States. We told Ginny we would do whatever it took to get the little guy to safety.

With tears in her eyes, Amber told me that she would give up her Tiffany’s Christmas gift if we could save this little dogs life. This is one of the reasons I knew that I was married to her. there would be other opportunities for diamond rings, but not another opportunity to make sure that this little guy would become healthy and find a good home.

The next day we were told that the little dog was picked up at the beach by a volunteer. She found out he had been there four or five days and has had no one help him out. He had been sitting under that truck without moving for nearly a week with no help. He was indeed injured, but the woman that picked him up at the beach couldn’t be sure what injury he sustained. We left Puerto Rico knowing that he was safe and fed.

By the time we arrived at New York’s LaGuardia airport, we knew that if this little dog was to survive, he had to become a member of our family. While a home with three dogs seems daunting, we had previously adapted from having one dog to two. 
In our minds, two dogs to three couldn’t be that hard either.

On New Years Eve, we were on our way to a party with our little dog in our thoughts. Before leaving, we attempted to get the dog to see a doctor to find out what his injury was. We lucked out and he saw a doctor. It turned out that he had broken his back and needed surgery to correct it. There are two dog orthopedic surgeons in Puerto Rico, and it was his lucky day because he went in to get a a rod inserted into his spine before the clock struck 12 midnight.

It was agonizing to read about his recovery in Puerto Rico and not have him with us, but we waited patiently as his spine healed around the rod that was holding his hips in place. We were sent photos and given constant reports on his health. All signs pointed to a fifteen pound healthy dog.

On February 5th, 2008, Amber and I went to Newark New Jersey to pick him up at the airport. While he was unsure of his surroundings, we knew that he was safe. Little Tino Martinez was on his way home to become the little brother of Mattingly Clawson and Leeloo Dallas.

Not everyone has the opportunity to see the work it takes to rescue an injured dog like Amber and I have, and our story is one of the more simple adoption stories that we have read about. We want everyone to have the opportunity to help save a dogs life. By purchasing one piece of merchandise that we sell, you are giving a dog food for a month.