Stray Dog Changing the World

By Sara Moreno

Hola amigos! My name is Mylo, but my good friends call me the Puerto Rican Papi of the sunshine state. I am a two-year-old Sato from la Isla del Encanto (Puerto Rico) and have been living the good life since being rescued from the streets and adopted in August of 2020 by my Latina human. I went from scavenging for food to being fed homemade meals from my Colombian family. I arrived at the perfect timing for my human since COVID took a significant toll on her mental health, especially since she was just recovering from the loss of her first dog of 14 years. Ironically, we both helped each other, I still had a lot of physical and emotional scars from being a stray and my human had all the love in the world for me, so I could slowly but surely start trusting my new environment.

We live very close to the ocean, and we discovered that I was just as obsessed with the beach as my human was and we started bonding over activities like running, swimming, and paddle boarding. We can spend hours en la playa! It was once my humans’ safe space and now it’s mine. It’s where I learned basic commands like sit, stay, and hug.

My human is creative and loves to take photos and videos of my quirky personality, which is why I now have multiple social media accounts. It’s something we started for fun, and now it is a way to show the world how much joy rescued dogs can bring to your life. And when I say “dogs” in plural it’s because I’m also a big brother now to another adopted stray pup from St Thomas. This tiny bully mix girl was a surprise since she originally was only going to be my foster dog sister, but thanks to her huge heart she is now a permanent part of our family. Gabi is only seven months old and is tiny in size but believe me when I say she’s mighty!

It was a little hard for me the first two weeks, but once I noticed she was obsessed with chewing on socks as I did, we bonded instantly.

My human, dog sister and I really enjoy adventure, so we are always looking for a new place to travel. We have been on plenty of road trips together, and even got to experience snow for the first time (humans included). I am a very grateful dog, and I know my humans are extremely grateful for me (they tell me this about 100 times a day). They even opened their own small business in pet photography recently in honor of Gabi and I. We wish with all our heart that all dogs one day get to feel the love we have felt this time with our familia, and we will continue to volunteer and spread the word about how amazing rescued pups are.