Meet Stuart Little, a scrappy little doggy who was so emaciated and weak when he was first rescued, that staff at Dallas DogRRR erroneously classified the 1.8 pound pup as a Chihuahua. Little did they know that this was a serious case of mistaken identity!
Stuart should have weighed at least 4 or 5 pounds for a breed his age, but the lack of meat anywhere on his bones meant that his true nature was a total mystery.
Yet, none of that actually mattered if they couldn’t get him to the vet in time to save his life.
Kerry Anechiarico, executive director of Dallas DogRRR, said that Stuart had been brought into the shelter by two people who found him in “horrible condition.”
Sadly, “horrible” doesn’t even begin to explain this poor fur baby’s suffering. As Kerry explained to The Dodo:
“He could barely keep his eyes open and was seemingly close to the point of no return.”
This little duke was so starved and malnourished that bones were protruding from all over his body, and it didn’t help that an army of ticks were literally sucking the lifeblood out of him.
Kerry could see that the Stuart was barely hanging on by a thread, so he rushed the dog to the vet, where he received an emergency blood transfusion. Whether or not that would be enough to save his life remained to be seen.
“It was touch and go for the first 24 to 48 hours. He was pretty out of it and wasn’t too conscious, kind of in and out.”
Thankfully after about five days under intensive care, Stuart gained enough strength to stand up on his own.
That was a sign that he was ready to go to a foster home, where he would continue to receive all the TLC he needed to grow up to be a big…”whatever doggy” he was meant to!
A woman named Susan agreed to foster him, but when she brought him home the only thing Stuart wanted to do was sleep all day.
That was totally understandable since he needed time to recover from all the earlier trauma life had dealt him.
However, after spending a few days in his new surroundings, which was filled with lots of toys and new doggy friends, Stuart realized just how good he had it and started acting like a real puppy!
One of Stuart’s favorite activities was latching onto a pair of jeans, so he could get dragged around the house by whatever legs were wearing them – all in good fun, of course!
That kind of behavior was actually good news, because it meant that Stuart was definitely a bonafide puppy!
Being normal is good, but Susan did mention that he did have one endearing quality that set him apart from all the other dogs out there.
“But the funny thing about him was he had this one bark. It was always like two quick barks together.”
And he still has that adorable one-two barky bark to this very day!
So, how does Susan even know what he sounds like as a grown-up since she was only supposed to be fostering Stuart for a short while? Well you can blame that on her brother, Shane.
“You always hear about how rewarding it is to adopt shelter dogs, animals, and it is!”
Shane felt an instant connection with Stuart the moment he laid eyes on him. From that point on, there was absolutely no question that the dog’s new forever home would be with him!
Shane works from home, and since there’s a dog park that’s literally in his backyard, Stewart gets to frolic around with his buddies all day long.
“He is very happy and very spoiled. He is very deserving of that.”
While he enjoys running around in the grass with the boys, Stewart prefers to catch some rays with his special lady friend, a gorgeous curly-haired girl named Blakely. By the looks of it, they might even be an exclusive pair!
Now that Stuart is all grown up, it’s apparent that he’s not really a Chihuahua.
He may not be a tiny lap dog that so many people seem to adore, but this chocolate pit bull is still pretty darned cute!
Check out the video below to see how a tiny “Chihuahua” transformed into the big, lovable doggo he is today!
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