Paralyzed Rescue Dog Dumped With Broken Back Is Seen ‘Walking’ in Her Sleep
A paralyzed rescue dog who was abandoned on the streets of Iran with a broken back has been filmed "walking" in her sleep in a TikTok video.
For the past decade, Tedi Sarah, who lives in Miami, has been a rescuer and foster mom to countless animals in need. Much of that time was spent in New York City where she fostered over 20 different dogs, each with their own complex set of needs, whether it be that they were puppies, in their senior years, blind or deaf.
That's where she met Pani. "One day I got an email from Animal Haven, the shelter I work with about a special needs dog coming all the way from Iran who needed a foster home," Sarah told Newsweek. That dog was Pani who had already overcome seemingly insurmountable odds.
"Pani was found injured and abandoned on the streets of Iran with a broken back. She is such a survivor and lived for a month on the streets with a broken back," Sarah said. "A security guard from a nearby construction site had been checking in on her, and eventually connected to one of the only animal sanctuaries there."
Pani was living at the Iranian sanctuary just outside of Tehran when one of the Iranian Americans who started the facility and was visiting decided to bring her back to the United States to get the veterinary care she needed.
Pani was given a wheelchair and the opportunity to find a forever family through Animal Haven. As part of the care given to the pup, she was also placed with a foster carer—that's where Sarah came in.
"I fostered her for over six months, took her to all her rehab appointments and helped nurse her back to health. After six months had passed, and I'd learned all about caring for a paralyzed dog, I decided to adopt her myself!"
Looking after a dog like Pani does come with its own unique set of challenges, however Sarah says it comes as "second nature" to her now after so long together.
"Because of her paralysis she scoots on her bottom when she's at home—and she's actually incredibly fast. And she uses a canine wheelchair when we are out for walks. She can run and run and run in it which she loves," she said.
Though Pani needs help with things like going to the bathroom, she's made incredible progress thanks to the care and support Sarah provides.
"She has made much progress doing this and that is how her hind legs now do have some movement," Sarah said. "It's unlikely she will ever walk normally again, as she can't hold her hips up on her own, but there's always room for a miracle," she said.
Despite this, Pani's life is a full and happy one. "Pani loves going on long walks on her wheels. She's walked with them through big cities like New York, hiked mountains, run on the beach in tropical environments and been in the desert. She can do everything other dogs can do, just with her wheels," Sarah said. "She also loves swimming in the ocean and looking for sea life where we live in Miami. She can sit for hours looking at fish swimming by, manatees, and even dolphins in the bay near where we live."
In a video posted last month to Sarah's TikTok account the sleeping pup can be seen seemingly defying her disability. "She dreams she is walking," the video's text overlay reads. Though it might seem out of the ordinary, Sarah says this happens "quite often."
"Paralysis is the loss of voluntary movement," she explained. "The connection from the brain and the injured area has been severely injured due to her original injury. However, even when you're paralyzed you can still have reflexive movements, and that is what you're seeing in the video."
The video currently has over 155,000 views and over 10,500 likes on TikTok.
Little is known about what dogs dream about but there are some noticeable similarities in the structure of canine and human brains, despite the differences in size.
In 2020 a U.S. National Library of Medicine study (NIH) found similar cycles of electrical activity in canine brains during sleep cycles. Such similarity has led researchers to speculate dogs dreams are much like ours, in that they are processing events such as faces and language from the day.
Though Sarah won't ever give up on that "miracle" of her one day walking unaided, she's just happy Pani is enjoying her life and educating people on special needs dogs and how wonderful they can be.
This story was originally published September 22, 2024, 7:00 AM.
