Dog beaten lifeless with shovel recovering well, finds forever home
Once uncertain to walk again, Pablo the chihuahua has made huge strides since the attack.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A dog that suffered severe brain trauma after a man allegedly hit it with a shovel last September continues his recovery.
“We didn’t think he would ever walk again,” Maria Lobuono, president of Proud Pups Rescue, said Wednesday of Pablo, a 5-year-old chihuahua. “And he started to walk.”
Cincinnati police arrested 42-year-old Tianthony Wagner after he was caught on camera hitting two dogs with a shovel in Woodlawn, according to court records.
Wagner leaned over a fence on Panola Drive to strike the dogs, police wrote in an affidavit. One of the dogs ran to the other side of the year, but Pablo remained at the fence in front of Wagner, and police say the video shows him hitting the dog over and over again.
Wagner left Pablo lifeless in the yard, police say.
“My heart just broke,” Lobuono said, “because I love chihuahuas with all my heart. Any dog, I would be upset. But just to see him laying there in the yard, and then the videos of him in the hospital, just not even there... It was really hard to see.”
Proud Pups Rescue, based in Florence, Indiana, handles special needs cases of animals in need of rescue and rehabilitation. Lobuono says she jumped at the chance to help Pablo, who was transported to MedVet.
Pablo was stable the night after the attack, and he didn’t experience seizures, but he also didn’t eat or stand up for days.
Pablo was diagnosed with a brain injury and had to stay at the hospital until the swelling in his face went down.
“Then, once stable enough, we brought him home so I could give him more care,” Lobuono said.
The road to recovery hasn’t been easy, but she says Pablo is making vast improvements and has also now found a forever home.
“He could not really walk. He would scoot himself around. Once his brain started to heal, he started to stand up. I was just like, I wanna see how he does on the grass, because it’s a little different traction, and he started running... very wobbly, but running,” Lobuono said.
Wagner faces one count each of injuring animals and prohibitions concerning companion animals.
His attorney said last year Wagner is an honorably discharged Army veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Wagner appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge kept his bond at $7,000 and set a trial date of May 30.
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