Storia del cane che non voleva più amare

A dog injured and betrayed by humans. A stubborn vet. A true story, as charming as a fairy tale.

Mano is an bad-tempered, unsociable stray, but splendid and regal as only a Maremmano-Abruzzese Sheepdog can be. But he’s nothing of the sort by the time he arrives at Monica’s surgery, after being fished out of a canal, legs tied together like a sheep – and muzzled. A man fishing for carp noticed him thrashing about in the murky water and called the rescue services. Now on the examination table, the exhausted, skeletal, nearly-drowned dog looks like a muddly, drenched rag. He’s lying facing the wall, totally still, unresponsive, but puts up an earnest fight whenever he sees a hand anywhere near him  – snapping at the air to defend himself from being touched. He bites instinctively, deliberately, from despair and fear. His tendency to attack hands earns him the name of Mano (Italian for “hand”), and Monica embarks on the lengthy endeavour of treating him and restoring him to the land of the living. This turns out to be one of the most drawn-out, hard and extraordinary challenges she has ever undertaken. It’s the story of Mano, the dog who suffered the worst kinds of violence on the part of humans, but also received the gift of love – and who will stir people’s conscience very deeply.