Disabled pug who had wheelchair stolen pounds pavement again

Roscoe the disabled pug is rolling again, thanks to a kind-hearted lady who gave him a doggie wheelchair she no longer needed. Tanya Jones, one of three people who offered Roscoe a replacement, showed up at his home on Thursday with a tiny wheelchair that her own dog used until it died a few years ago.

Roscoe’s custom-made wheelchair was stolen recently, leaving him no way to exercise, other than a clumsy sling that his owner, Christine Borsuk, uses to hold up his rear end while he hobbles on his front legs.



“It broke my heart,” said Jones, a veterinary technician at the West Hill Animal Clinic, on Lawrence Ave. E. “We had one in our garage that we weren’t using, so I wanted to get it to him.” The 5-year-old pug’s mobility has steadily deteriorated since he was a pup, due to a kink in his spine that caused nerve damage and paralyzed his hind legs.

Roscoe seemed to know what he was looking at when Jones took the chair out of her vehicle. He sniffed it and got excited, dragging his immobile hindquarters around the laneway until Borsuk started worrying about abrasions. She was overwhelmed by offers of donations from hundreds of Toronto Star readers who learned in the Thursday Fixer column that Roscoe’s chair had been stolen. “It’s just incredible,” she said. “It absolutely redeems my faith in human nature.”

Full story with news video here.

Many thanks Cath!