How could they? That's the question being asked after a dog was dumped in downtown Benicia with an "I need a home" message marked on her body.
"It's hard to imagine what somebody was thinking when they did that," said Shannon Bettencourt.
She found the scared and whimpering dog next to a tree outside a Chinese restaurant on First Street last Thursday.
The dog had the words "free" written in black marker on both sides of her body and "I need a home" on her forehead.
"The first thing I thought was to call the police but then I was like no, they're going to call animal control," Bettencourt said. "I didn't know what could happen from there. I was like no way, I'll at least keep her for the night."
Bettencourt quickly bonded with the animal and decided her home is where the dog belongs.
"Somebody just kind of treated her like trash but she ended up being my treasure," Bettencourt said.
She named the dog "Libby," short for "Liberty", since she was found the day before the Fourth of July holiday.
Bettencourt said the animal appears to be healthy and well trained, making it difficult to understand why the dog was abandoned.
But she's grateful for her new canine companion.
"It was actually kind of a blessing in disguise, even though it was very sad to start with." she said.
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