Submitted photo. Animal care technician Joe Cross is one of the many employees at Operation Kindness who has fallen in love with Mimi, the victim of a house fire. The shelter will keep the 13-year-old dog as long as necessary, said special events coordinator Julie Goff. But, she’s looking for someone with a quiet home to adopt her.

Looking at Mimi isn’t easy, but looking away is even harder. The 13-year-old dog’s innocent face snarls into a crooked smile — masking her disfigured upper lip and scorched pink nose.

“The fact that she’s here is an absolute miracle,” said Mimi’s vet, Dr. Jennifer Lavender.

Mimi was saved from a deadly house fire in Garland on Valentine’s Day, when a neighbor punched through the window and extinguished flames on the elderly dog’s muzzle, nose and eyes.

After firefighters gave the dog chest compressions and oxygen, Mimi was resuscitated. The damage was enough to leave her permanently disfigured, but Mimi’s spirit wasn’t singed.

“She is full of life,” said Julie Goff, special events coordinator at Operation Kindness in Carrollton. “I look at her, and I don’t see the burns anymore.”

Mimi was transported to Operation Kindness on Feb. 15, after Garland Animal Control asked them to take the sick dog. Her 60-year-old owner died at Parkland Hospital several days after the fire, and Mimi needed a safe place to go.

Now a month later, Mimi’s burns look worse than before, Goff said. The dog takes three antibiotics and receives daily hydrotherapy — a flushing of the skin also used on human burn victims to help her damaged flesh slough off.

In the process, Mimi lost her black nose. All that’s left is a light pink patch of sensitive skin and two little nostrils. And her vision is probably like looking through wax paper, Lavender said, from the damage to her corneas.

“She’s been going through painful treatments, and she has never required chemical restraint,” Lavender said. “It takes a dog with a really special personality to not mind what we had to do to her.”

Mimi is a “senior citizen,” said several Operation Kindness employees, and her injuries may have shortened her life even more. Still, they hope Mimi can find a new home for the time she has left.

Jessica Sandell, one of Mimi’s previous owners, is also hopeful the dog will find a quiet, laid-back home. Sandell, 23, is the daughter of the 60-year-old man who died, and Mimi was given to her as a puppy when Sandell was in the fourth grade. Sandell remembers a loyal, friendly dog who was always at her side.

“When I was younger, she followed me everywhere. Even if I was in the bathroom, she’d be right there at the door,” she said.

Sandell has since moved to Rhode Island and can’t have a dog. She also knows that a plane ride from Texas to Rhode Island may be too much for the old canine.

“I miss her so much. I cry all the time,” she said. “I’m happy that she made it, but I’m just sad that I can’t have her.”

Sandell’s brother, Spencer, 26, was also in the Garland home when it caught fire. He escaped and helped extinguish some of the flames, Sandell said. But, he’s not emotionally prepared to care for the dog, she said.

If Mimi doesn’t find a home soon, Goff said she’s too much of a “softie” to keep Mimi caged at the shelter. She’s offered to invite Mimi into her office permanently, if necessary, she said.

“I get a little nosy, and I’ve taken a special interest in her,” she said. “She could be my office dog. She’d have people fawning over her all day.”

For now, the dog isn’t ready for adoption. She’s still receiving hydrotherapy treatments and being spoiled with jerky treats from Goff and a few other Operation Kindness employees. But, her steady recovery is a good sign, her vet said.

“Her last time here with us is still precious,” Lavender said. “She’s such a miraculous survivor.”

Contact Community Editor Sarah Blaskovich at 972-628-4074 or sblaskovich@acnpapers.com.