Dog Thrown From Car During Storm Found Pierced With Cactus Spines In San Diego

The storm that tore through San Diego that night was unlike any other. Thunder roared, the wind screamed through the streets, and the rain came down so hard it turned everything into a blur.

Tornado warnings lit up phones across the city, and most people huddled safely inside their homes.

But in the middle of all that chaos, someone threw a dog out of a car and sped off, leaving him trembling and alone in the storm like he didn’t matter at all.

So he sat there, drenched in the rain, waiting. Maybe he thought they’d come back for him. They didn’t.

When he finally stood up, he wandered aimlessly until he stumbled into a dry, desolate canyon on the edge of town.

The ground was littered with thorny brush, broken glass, and cactus plants. It was no place for a lost, frightened dog, but he had nowhere else to go.

People nearby had seen what happened, and word soon reached Stephanie Nisan of The Animal Pad Rescue. She couldn’t shake the thought of him out there, hurting and alone.

Others warned her that this dog wasn’t friendly. He snapped, growled, and wouldn’t let anyone near. Even animal control had thrown in the towel.

But Stephanie wasn’t the type to give up. She and her team set out into the canyon, determined to reach him. That’s when they saw him up close.

They named him Prickly Pete, not just for his prickly attitude, but because his entire body was covered in cactus spines.

Some stuck deep into his legs, others poked out of his face, and one giant cactus chunk dangled painfully from his leg.

He was limping, trembling, and clearly exhausted, but he still couldn’t bring himself to trust.

Every time they inched closer, he backed away. For three long hours, Stephanie and her team pushed forward.

They crawled through brush, scratched themselves on thorns, and ignored their own bleeding arms just to stay with him. Slowly, inch by inch, Pete began to let down his guard.

Finally, they slipped a leash over his neck, and for the first time in who knows how long, he wasn’t alone anymore.

At the clinic, things looked even worse. Hundreds of cactus spines covered his body, even his tongue.

The pain was so overwhelming that he had to be sedated just so the team could remove them all. With every thorn they pulled, it was like another piece of his suffering was being lifted away.

And when the last spine was gone, something beautiful started to shine through.

The growly dog turned into someone new. His tail wagged. He leaned in for scratches. He even surprised Stephanie with sloppy kisses that made her laugh through tears.

Pete had found his person. Stephanie became his safe place, and soon he followed her everywhere.

Still, the scars of his past showed whenever strangers got too close. Trust takes time, and Pete wasn’t ready to hand his heart over to just anyone.

That’s when Stephanie called in Katie, a trainer who helps dogs with tough beginnings. With her guidance, Pete started learning that not everyone meant harm.

Today, Prickly Pete is a completely different dog. He’s playful, silly, and bursting with energy, as Stephanie described in a YouTube video:

“He genuinely is an amazing dog. He still has puppy energy, so he’s just prancing around and just getting to be a dog that we don’t think he’s ever been able to be.”

Pete’s forever home hasn’t come along just yet, but he already has what he once thought impossible: a second chance.

And that second chance comes with a soft bed, gentle hands, and people who see him as worthy of love.

And really, that’s everything he needed.