The puppy seemed scared to leave the chair because he thought his owner would return for him and wouldn't find him if he wandered off looking for food and water.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on July 1, 2019. It has since been updated.
Getting a puppy is a lifetime commitment - the dog's lifetime that is. For many who have a canine pet, the friendship and bond they have is one that can never be broken.
Sadly, the same can't be said of this puppy's owners. Trusting his humans nearly led him to death. Thankfully, there was someone who was able to lead him back from the brink, reported Metro UK.
Animal control officer Sharon Norton of Brookhaven, Mississippi, got a call about an abandoned dog, a recliner chair and a tossed TV on the side of a remote road. Immediately taking action, she drove up to the site and recounted to Today, “I felt sick to my stomach.”
The reason? When she got there, she found a four-month-old puppy on the recliner chair. But he wasn't just sunbathing or relaxing - he was starving. “That poor baby; he’d been a good four or five days without food,” she said. “I mean, he was skinny.”
She believed that the pup that seemed to be a hound/Doberman pinscher mix, was waiting for someone. Yet, that's not the most heart-breaking bit. She felt like he had been waiting for his owner to come back for him and was terrified that if he left, his human wouldn't be able to find him.
“He was just too scared because it was a strange area,” she said. “It’s a deserted road. On both sides it was nothing but woods,” she said. She also mentioned that it was a good thing that he stayed there as there was a nearby interstate that would have been dangerous if he had strolled that side.
At first, Sharon faced a bit of resistance when she tried to get him out of his chair. He refused to leave the lounger, so much so that he had not even gotten up to look for food. But she started to hand-feed him and trust between the two blossomed. As she picked him up and carried him to her truck, she said she could feel his tail thumping against her back.
“He was so happy because he knew he was going to get food now,” she said. “He was rescued and safe.”
A veterinary technician to boot, Sharon gave the hungry and tired pup a bath and made sure he got medical care. “That poor baby; he’d been a good four or five days without food,” she observed.
She called him La-Z-Boy Gatson as a tribute to the recliner and the road where she found him. Currently, vets and a team at the Brookhaven City Shelter are nursing La-Z-Boy Gatson back to good health and a decent weight. Many local families, who had heard his story, are more than ready to adopt him when he's ready.
Norton has hopes that someone will be able to recognize the chair and the pup so that they could report the former owner to the local authorities or Brookhaven City Shelter. Sadly, she mentioned that the cruel person who dumped his dog would probably only have to pay a $50 fine for illegal dumping since dogs are considered property in Mississippi.
“I’m seeing this every day. I used to be a really strong-headed person when I started this job. But seven years of (witnessing) this cruelty – dumping dogs – it just breaks you down,” she said.
Heartbroken, she wrote on her Facebook wall: "I get a message this morning to go check out this dog that's in the chair, this is what I pulled up and seen.. To the person that dumped this chair, your puppy was waiting for you to come back,,slowly starving to death because it was afraid to leave the chair to find food. shame on you for doing this to this puppy.. but one day Karma will meet up with you"
References:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9372872/heartbreaking-dog-puppy-alone-dumped/
https://www.today.com/pets/puppy-dumped-chair-tv-nearly-starved-waiting-owner-t157127
