- Case of the Month
- Angel Fund Helps Keep Miss Kallie Healthy
- Angel Fund Supplies Clarity for Dog With Terminal Cancer
- Brazilian Couple Gets Surgery for Dog With Angel Fund’s Help
- Angel Fund Grant Helps Dog Deal With Congenital Problem
- Disabled Woman Turns to Angel Fund for Help With Dog’s Heart Problem
- Cody Returns with Help from Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Helps Give Owner Options for Bulldog With Cancer
- Angel Fund Helps Trojan
- Cat with Heart Problem Helped by Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Provides Grant to Help Terrier Ralph Get Surgery on Hip
- Angel Fund Helps Homeless Man, Chihuahua Attacked by Large Dog
- Help From Angel Fund Puts Max on Road to Better Life
- Surgery Returns Baby Kitty to His Idyllic Outdoor Life
- Sweetheart Fights Cancer With Angel Fund’s Help
- Angel Fund Helps Mango Overcome Chronic Disease
- Young Shepard's Life Saved With Assist From Angel Fund
- With Help From Angel Fund, Lillie Tries to Get Back on Her Feet
- Angel Fund Helps Rescue Joy After Encounter with Foxtails
- Angel Fund Aid Helps Give Rescued Dog a New Life
- Angel Fund Helps Walter Regain His Health After GDV Surgery
- Angel Fund Teams Up With Clinic to Save Pit Bull Named Mitch
- Attacked by 3 Dogs, Lucy Is Rescued by Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Helps Rescue Sabrina, a Bossy Feline
- Tarzan Recovers From Encounter With Car, Thanks to Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Helps Khloe Get New Lease on Life
- Unable to Pay for Dog's Surgery, Family Gets Help from Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Helps Junior Defeat Rapidly Growing Bone Fungus
- Angel Fund Helps Beautiful, Pregnant Boots
- Martha and Angel Fund Save Tuminous, a Very Social Cat
- With Help From Angel Fund, Nichole Saves Her Shih Tzu
- Angel Fund Gives Big Lift to Jack and His Dog, Eula
- Ollie's Injured Knee Repaired With Help From Angel Fund
- Nui Was "Little Big Man" and Loving Companion
- Hit by Car, Husky Leia Lives, with Help from Angel Fund
- Amazing Teddy - Helped by the AHF Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Helps Sick Chihuahua Through Ordeal With Bladder Stone
- Taryn Saves Hershey's Life With Help From Angel Fund
- Love for Daisy
- Critter gets new lease on life with help from AHF's Angel Fund
- Angel Fund Helps Abused Chihuahua Get 2nd Chance
- Angel Fund Helped Porky Get An Extra Year of Life
- Baby of the Family
- Peanut of the Family
- Mommaz Boy
- Sandra's Beloved Family
- Glorious Gabby
- Nena's New Lease on Life
- The Lights of Paris
- Sweet Shane
- Lucky Seven
- Pretty Boy
- Precious Tony
- Sweet Wilma
- A Star Was Born
- A Family's Delight
- Loveable Sassy.
- Hope, Wood and the Angels
- Saving Yoko
- Hope for Daisy
- Clarizcel, Koopa, and the Crenshaw Animal Hospital
- Patching Up Patches
- Heart Warming Support
- Henrietta , Lola and Dr. Mark Nunez
- Scottie, The Fernando Family and Dr. Liz Koskenmaki
- Shelly, Shiloh and Dr. Barry Baum
- A New Life for Jeannie
- David and Kiki Running in the Cove
- View all
Case of the Month
Angel Fund Helps Homeless Man, Chihuahua Attacked by Large Dog

Early one cold January morning last year, Martiniano Gutierrez, was walking his Chihuahua Goofy in a park in Santa Ana. Suddenly, a black German Shepherd mix charged out of the predawn darkness and attacked the smaller dog.
Martiniano did not see the shepherd until it was too late. He managed to pull the dog off Goofy – but not before it had inflicted serious wounds on the smaller dog’s chest and abdomen and he himself had been bitten.
A 68-year-old man from Puebla, Mex., Martiniano had been living in his car for a year and a half and was not working. Goofy means everything to him. “He is my only family. He is my son. He is the other half of my soul,” Martiniano told Ligia Veloz, staff members at Tustin Santa Ana Veterinary Hospital where he took his dog for treatment. “Even though he was in pain from the attack, he still gave me kisses. Goofy may depend on me for nourishment but my soul depends on him.”
Goofy was calm, even though he was bleeding from his severe wounds. “He’s such a good boy,” Ligia, a receptionist and technical assistant at the hospital said. “That’s why we all fell in love with him.“ Dr. Laura Weatherford repaired Goofy surgically and the dog was released to Martiniano that evening. “We knew he would do better with his dad,” Ligia said. “We saw him the next day and when he came in to be checked over several weeks.”
Martiniano did not have money to pay the bill. The hospital steered him to Angel Fund, which provided $500, a sum matched by the hospital. Those funds made the surgery and treatment possible and Goofy and his owner are grateful both to the hospital and Angel Fund.
The Mexican native has lived in the United States for 37 years and is now a U.S. citizen. He worked for years as a tire man in a garage owned by his brother. But the brother died a few years ago. Martiniano worked in the same garage for his nephew – but his pay was cut back and he had to live in the tire shop. He sought work elsewhere but was unable to find another job because of his age and the fact that he has difficulty walking and standing for long periods of time.
Today he lives on a Social Security disability check. But he no longer is living in his car. He now owns an RV, purchased a year ago through a state program that friends told him about. It provides much more room and he and Goofy are more comfortable in it.
Martiniano recognized the dog that attacked Goofy. He had stayed overnight near the Santa Ana park frequently and knew the house where the shepherd lived. So he went there after his dog was injured and told the owners what had happened. They refused to help and seemed to blame the event on Goofy and his master.
Ligia acted as interpreter in an interview with Martiniano, who speaks little English. She said that her hospital helps him as much as possible. “We have clients who donate bed and food and we always contact him because we know that he appreciates it. And we love Goofy.”
Martiniano and Goofy plan to continue living in the RV because of money issues. But there is not enough income to pay for a space in an RV park so they will continue to park on the street at night.
But they are happy together. And Goofy is “really good,” Ligia said. “He’s always got his tail wagging. And he’s always looking for his dad. He’s just a happy guy.”