Puppy Adopted From Shelter Is Returned — 10 Years Later

<p>Los Angeles County Animal Control - Lancaster <span></span></p>
<p>Los Angeles County Animal Control - Lancaster <span></span></p>

UPDATE: A GoFundMe campaign has been started to raise pledges for Lobo's care. If you would like to help, click here.

When this puppy left the shelter nearly a decade ago, the world ahead of him must have seemed like his own personal Kong ball.

It was 2006. And someone had decided to take this tiny puppy home. And so little Lobo bounded into the big life, far from the uncertain confines of the shelter.

Los Angeles County Animal Control – Lancaster

But more than nine years after he first left the Lancaster Animal Care Center in Los Angeles County, he found himself back again.

"It was the original owner who brought him in," a shelter worker, who asked not to be named, told The Dodo. "All the owner stated was that he was ill."

So Lobo once again had to strike a pose. And once again, he lives in uncertainty.

Los Angeles County Animal Control – Lancaster

And his illness? Seizures, according to the shelter staffer. Lobo has lived with them since he was a puppy. His former owner must have lived with his dog's seizures too.

So why take him back now? Why bookend a dog's life with loneliness?

We don't know the real reasons why people surrender their pets. Financial hardship is certainly one of them. But there are also programs available to help people keep their pets for life.

All of them, apparently, lost on Lobo's former owner.

A lot of dogs have come and gone from this shelter since Lobo first arrived as an abandoned puppy. Sadly, many never left at all.

Lobo's plight was first posted on Facebook by Antje Stobbe, a California-based animal rescuer on Monday. Soon afterward, the network of animal lovers at PetConnect.Us rallied for the dog, helping his situation go viral.

But, after a long taste of freedom and family, Lobo remains at the post he once haunted as a puppy.

Think you could give him the real home he deserves?

Get in touch with Los Angeles County Animal Control – Lancaster at 661-940-4191 or 661-974-8358. Lobo's ID number is #‎A3611551‬.

If you can't get through by phone, and you happen to be in the area, visit the shelter at 5210 West Avenue I, Lancaster, California.

Every second counts.