Stray dogs, fighting to survive on the streets, are so tough to see. Dogs are lost without someone to love them.

Some find a pack of other dogs to run with and have some chance of survival but it’s still not easy.

In the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires there is a problem with stray dogs. All cities have stray dogs but there is a particularly high number in this city.

‘I cried’

It was two days before Christmas 2017 when animal lover Pia was told about a dog that was just running around in circles.

When she found him he was skin and bones and lying on the ground, with no fur and no sparkle in his eyes.

“I cried because I couldn’t believe no one had helped him,” said Pia, according to  The Dodo .

Pia took him to the vet but didn’t think he would make it through the night.

The vet told Pia to wait a couple of days and see how he was. He needed round-the-clock care.

Fighting for his life

It would be a tough journey for both of them. For the next two days he couldn’t eat and lost even more weight.

He couldn’t walk because he’d lost the muscle in his legs. Pia was worried, but stayed with him. He fought for his life and didn’t give up. Pia called him Hercules.

She thought all hope was lost…

But then he started to eat and fought so hard to stand up. He wanted to live.

He began to fight, like a true Herculean and found the strength to carry on. Eventually he stood up on his own!

It was after this that things started to really change for the better. The sparkle returned to his eyes, he got stronger and his fur grew back.

This is Hercules today! Hardly recognizable from the state he was in when Pia found him. But with love and devotion, he was brought back to life.

Thanks to a loving mom he has got his life back.

Pia says Hercules is a very cuddly dog, as if he’s saying thank you to her.

When he was ready to be adopted, Pia just couldn’t bring herself to give him up, she had to keep him.

Such a wonderful story, it brought tears to my eyes!