Fat Dog's Diet Tale Earns Humane Animal Resuce Agency $5,000

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA - The tale of a morbidly obese Chihuahua’s adoption and subsequently successful dieting has won Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh $5,000 from the Petco Foundation. The grant was awarded Wednesday at Petco’s McKnight Road store.

The grant is part of the foundation’s Holiday Wishes program dispensing $765,000 in awards to 52 animal welfare organizations. Included in that amount is a $100,000 grand prize to one of the organizations later this month.

Foundation officials were persuaded to award Humane Animal Rescue a grant based on the story of Julia Morley, a UPMC resident physician. She walked into Humane Animal Rescue last year looking to adopt one particular dog and walked out with Lu-Seal.

“Lu-Seal had come to the Humane Animal Rescue at the age of nine, too overweight to walk and suffering from terrible arthritis in her knees and torn ligaments in both back legs,” Morley said. “She was so goofy looking that I just had to meet her, and as soon as I did it was love at first sight.”

Lu-Seal tipped the scales at 16 pounds, more than double the healthy weight for her breed. Morley immediately went on a mission to get Lu-Seal to shed some pounds.

“I walked her often,” Morley said. “Ten-foot struggles turned into mile-long jaunts as the weight fell off and she became fit and healthy. Her eagerness to overcome and constant progress inspired me more than anything in my life, and I fell in love in a way I never knew was possible.”

Lu-Seal proved inspirational to more people than just Morley. The physician documented the dog’s progress on Instagram, and soon news outlets such as the Daily Mail in London were covering her diet. As of Wednesday, Lu-Seal had more than 9,000 Instagram followers.

Morley credited Humane Animal Rescue for keeping Lu-Seal around long enough to be adopted.

“They could have easily put her down based on her immobility and poor health,” she said. “Instead, they started her on a path to being a happy, healthy dog.”

Photos via Petco Foundation.