I'll be bark: Terminator dog who suffered 70 per cent third-degree burns finds new home

By Oliver Pickup


New life: After suffering third-degree burns this five-year-old dog has thankfully now found a new home


His skin may be red raw and sore - and cause him to look like Terminator - but this dog is happy as he has found a new home.

The five-year-old, nicknamed Mr Burns by his new owners, suffered third-degree burns over 70 per cent of his body in a house fire in El Segundo, California, after his previous handler committed suicide.

And, even after being rescued from the fire and nursed back to recovery, the Akita/Chow Chow mix's injures were so severe that his fur will never grow back in places.


The exposed skin has been likened to Arnold Schwarzenegger's damaged robot character Terminator, in the hit Hollywood films, where his mechanical insides are shown.

The dog was inside a garage at the premises - a car transmission shop - when his female owner committed suicide by setting herself alight, which in turn turned the residence to flames.

Firefighters managed to pull the dog from the wreckage - but he was in a bad state.

Sore: Mr Burns, or Cocoa, as his new owners have called him, had to be looked after for a year after suffering third-degree burns over 70 per cent of his body


Happy ending: The five-year-old Akita/Chow Chow mix wags his tail and has a new home in California

'They brought him in with third-degree burns over 60 to 70 per cent of his body,' veterinarian Michael Oshry said.

'We had (the fire department's) permission to go ahead and start treating him with intravenous fluids, antibiotics and cleaning away the dead tissue.'

Vita Martinez, office manager of Affordable Animal Hospital in Torrance, where Mr Burns underwent lengthy treatments, said: 'As he walked in, the pads on his paws were just falling off.

'He was just black and charred, but he was such a sweet dog.'

Thankfully after vet care and a long stay at a shelter, the Pal Rescue organisation was able to home him with Sharon and Karl Loveys of Lomita, California.

Mrs Loveys said: 'He was a yard dog at a transmission shop in El Segundo for four years. He is devoted and obviously was to his owner.

'He has been under the care of Pal Rescue for over a year before we managed to adopt him.

'Our sweet dog has many names, including Mr Burns, but we call him Cocoa.'



Source:dailymail