The world's ugliest dog dumped by her last owner after she became infested with fleas has been given a new home to live out her last years.
Mongrel Susi was left on a street in Hildesheim with a collar and a note around her neck reading: "Please take me with you. I need a new home. My name is Susi"
Staff at the Hildesheim animal home say that the only reason Susi looked so bad was that she had become infested with fleas - and had destroyed much of her fur with her insistent scratching.
Susi, thought to be around 13 or 14 years old, has now been given medical treatment for the flees - although another problem is that she is nearly completely blind and has no teeth left.
She recovered however enough that she was able to go out for walks and enjoyed being in the fresh air.
Now she has been deemed well enough to be released from the clinic and was taken into private care by an animal lover that offered to care for her, where she can live for the rest of her life.
Animal shelter director Sabine Oelschläger said the dog had been dumped beside a busy road in a box in freezing cold temperatures - and had only survived because a motorist found her.
He said: "She was absolutely covered in fleas and she was also was smeared in blood having been bitten countless times by the fleas."
Carer Holger Assmann, 51, said: "If you do not treat fleas, then every month a typical dog can end up with another 125,000. Although only one-and-a-half millimetres in size, they are incredibly irritating.
"The poor dog had suffered terribly and weighed just 6 kg when she came to us. She must have been suffering from fleas for at least six months and it would only have cost a few euros for flea powder to solve the problem."
