Meet Dex the pug. When he first arrived at the Austin Animal Center in Texas, he only weighed 10 pounds and was very close to becoming blind. They had found him and were waiting for his owners to claim him before they could give any medical assistance.
With all those outliers happening, Pug Rescue Austin knew they had to do something. Once nobody claimed him they scooped him up and got him to their rescue. He had skin infections which rendered him totally hairless.
He was only a year old when they got him and they thought that he had this skin condition for at least six months. If they hadn’t gotten little Dex when they did, he might not have made it out alive.
Signe Corbin who is the founder of Pug Rescue Austin, said this to The Dodo:
“He had ‘dry eye’ (low tear production) and both of his eyes were infected. He had painful corneal ulcers from not only the lack of tear production, but likely from constant itching and rubbing his face, thus traumatizing his eyes. He squinted and kept them closed most of the time.”
But once he got to the rescue, his road to recovery started right away.
His foster dog mom had to give him five different eye drops every two hours just to save his vision. She also had to give him medicated baths to get his skin back to normal.
At first everyone was worried about Dex being able to bounce back emotionally, but he proved everyone wrong.
Corbin went onto say:
“He was very scared the first few days, but as he started to heal and feel better, he quickly warmed up to people and became particularly attached to his foster. We discovered he loved to curl up in round beds with higher sides on them and he loved fleece blankets against his skin.”
When it was time to get Dex into his forever home, he went pretty viral on Facebook.
He particularly stood out to Beth Legacki. She had adopted other pups before from Pug Rescue Austin and she told The Dodo that she cried when she saw him.
“He was shy, but I knew in my heart he belonged in our home.”
After getting adopted, Dex now has a full body of hair and a family full of four other dogs and humans that love him.
Legacki said:
“He has become very dominant in an adorable way. He’s tiny and the most confident and feisty of our pack. He’s super proud and knows he has ‘street cred.'”
Dex loves to snuggle with everyone and even sleeps under the covers with his new family.
Legacki concluded:
“He makes us laugh. He brings warmth and love. It’s hard to not get emotional when we look at him and think about where he came from. Our home is filled with ‘thrown away’ dogs. and we couldn’t imagine a life without them.”
