Most backyard dog breeders don’t even care about their dogs. Whenever they see sick puppies, they see it as a liability and cut their losses by getting them euthanized or throwing them away. Many of the puppies are so young that they haven’t even experienced what it’s like to be loved.
A puppy named Hugo was born with swimmer puppy syndrome. When the breeders who used to own him realized that he can’t walk, they decided to throw him away like trash. Hugo was left to die alone.
Thankfully, people found him and quickly took him to the shelter. From there, every person that Hugo met only wanted to love him and help him. At Fulton County Animal Services, a woman named Audrey Shoemaker knew that Hugo was too young to be away from his family.
She contacted Friends To The Forlorn Pitbull Rescue pulled Hugo from the Georgia animal shelter. A family who owns a small sanctuary called The Tucker Farm heard about Hugo and agreed to foster him and help him get back on his feet.
Although the sanctuary owner, Elizabeth LaBauve-Williams had family over for the holidays, she just couldn’t say no after seeing Hugo. She wanted to give Hugo a second chance at life. When Hugo first arrived at the sanctuary, he was covered in fleas and couldn’t even walk.
Elizabeth and her family never had any experience rehabilitating dogs with swimmer puppy syndrome. However, they were willing to take on the challenge. Although there was a chance that Hugo would never be able to walk normally, they hoped that they would give him a good quality of life.
Elizabeth and her family gave Hugo regular leg massages as well as water therapy. At first, Hugo was nervous but as he gained strength in his legs, he started becoming more confident. The other dogs in the sanctuary made sure that Hugo felt at home and was amazing at encouraging Hugo to use his legs.
After just a few weeks with his foster family, Hugo took his first wobbly strides. From there, Hugo became unstoppable. He was determined to run with the other dogs and would try to keep up with them even when his legs were still a little weak.
However, after a few more weeks of therapy, Hugo transformed into a happy, playful, and confident puppy. He’s now able to run and keep up with the other dogs and has since been unstoppable. Here’s a video featuring Hugo’s remarkable fighting spirit.
Video Source The Dodo via YouTube
