Shelter Dog Rescued Halfway Through Being Euthanized

Thanks to one of the most pawmazing last-minute rescues of a shelter dog ever, a former pound pup named Hugo is very lucky to be alive today.

This week Brenda Weber, of Misfit Animal Rescue, a last-chance rescue center for pets in Central Florida, paid a routine visit to Hernando County Animal Services in Brooksville, Fla., with her daughter, Mattie.

They both fell in love with a friendly pooch named Hugo, who appears to be a Pit Bull mix. Even though Hugo had scored highly in behavior tests, he’d been languishing in the shelter for 75 days.

Weber told the shelter staff that she’d be back for the dog, and then she and her daughter walked around the shelter for about 15 minutes.

When they returned to Hugo’s kennel, “all his papers, his dog bowl and HUGO were gone!” Weber wrote on the Misfit Animal Rescue Facebook page. Horrified, she and her daughter realized that the dog was going to be euthanized.

“Tears started flowing and we started running,” Weber wrote. “We ran in the front office and screamed, ‘Where is Hugo, we want Hugo!’”

An employee ran across the shelter, shouting, “Don’t euthanize Hugo!” When she reached the room where he was being put down, Hugo had already been given anesthesia and was unconscious.

The lethal needle was just inches from Hugo’s arm.

“Hugo was standing before the Rainbow Bridge when his life was reinstated,” Weber wrote. “We all sat there crying together, out of breath.”

The lucky dog had to remain at the shelter overnight, until the anesthesia wore off. When Weber and her daughter returned the next day, she wrote, “The kind soul got his new collar and leash on and walked down every cage on his way out, licking and kissing each dog. He got to the end, looked back … Mattie bent over and he gave her a huge Hugo hug!”

Hugo is already loving his furever home. “He plunged in the pool, walked on the trail and crashed in the house,” Weber wrote. “He loves everybody, goats and cats!

“A gentle soul so close to lost!”

PHOTO: Misfit Animal Rescue Facebook Page

Laura Goldman

Laura Goldman is senior social media writer for i Love Dogs, Inc. She does love dogs. And elephants and turtles. Along with writing about the loves of her life, Laura likes to play with her two pound pups and tell anyone who’ll listen just how awesome Pit Bulls are.

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