At least from what we’ve seen via social media, it would seem that working at an animal rescue involves put yourself at the front and center of a lot of horror stories.
After all, many of the animals who end up there did so after a long and sad history of neglect . And while their conditions upon arrival often tell the story of what they’ve been through better than words can, they also come with the unfortunate realization that we’re often not even seeing the worst-case scenarios.
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But although these are always animals looking for forever homes , there are also enough stories of a spirited animal overcoming their obstacles with the help of a loving family to give us hope for the others.
And Wolfgang the beagle meets that description perfectly.
Back in 2019, Wolfgang was taken in by the Arizona Beagle Rescue as a stray that weighed a staggering 90 pounds, over three times what is considered a healthy body weight for him.
Although his eventual adopter — an attorney named Erin McManis — knew nothing about Wolfgang’s previous owner, she knew there had to be a backstory for how we got this way.
As she told Today, “How does a 90-pound dog that can barely walk wander the streets?”
Fortunately, she and her husband Chad were up to the challenge as they had previously helped two other dogs lose over 50 pounds each in their roles as foster parents. And because they wanted to see Wolfgang’s journey through, they decided to fully adopt him.
Although a veterinarian would later discover that Wolfgang has a thyroid condition they also recommended that he eat no more than 600 calories a day.
Fortunately, Wolfgang maintained a patient and positive attitude while McManis fed him lean turkey and fresh vegetables and didn’t beg between meals.
As she said to The Dodo , “He was incredibly nice and friendly the first day we took him from the shelter, and that never changed.”
Given his extreme weight at the start, it was hard to get him to exercise as he would tire after going as far as the neighbor’s mailbox. Also complicating things was the fact that he couldn’t be walked during most of the day due to Arizona’s extreme heat.
In McManis words, “When I come home from work, my dogs would typically come to the door and greet me. But Wolfgang couldn’t do that. It would just tire him out too much.”
But Wolfgang wanted to run, play, and show affection to his new family, so after a year of gradual exercise and sticking to his diet regimen, he was able to do all of those things once he reached 51 pounds.
As Today reported, this was also the point when the vet would re-evaluate whether his target weight of 25 pounds was a viable goal.
And it seems that it is indeed viable because at last report, Wolfgang has trimmed all the way down to 32 pounds.
And since that’s only a pound off from this photo, it’s more than likely that this is what he looks like right now.
As McManis said, “We hope Wolfgang can be an example that shelter dogs can make great pets, and I think Wolfgang is a good example of what can happen when you don’t give up on somebody.”
