A few months ago, Stray Rescue of St. Louis’ chief lifesaving officer, Donna Lochmann, came across a pittie who desperately needed her help. The pup was trapped inside an abandoned house, with no way of getting out, and all Lochmann could see was the dog’s tiny face sticking out from a window.
“He’s been living in this house all by himself, barking out the top window begging for help,” Stray Rescue of St. Louis wrote on YouTube.
As Lochmann looked around the house, she realized that all of its doors were boarded up and blocked with metal bars. That meant the pup must have jumped in through the basement window and then not been able to climb back out.
Lochmann and the rest of the rescue team had to climb through the basement window to get to the dog.
When they finally got up close to him, they realized he was a little bigger than he'd looked in the window.
“[W]e were surprised to find an … 85+ pound baby boy,” Lochmann wrote.
Because the pup, later named Oscar Mayer, was so large, the rescue team had to devise a plan for how they were going to hoist him out of the basement. They ended up building a makeshift ramp out of items they found inside the house.
“We found a mattress that was in the basement, and there happened to be an old wooden door as well,” Lochmann said in a video for The Dodo. “So we just propped the mattress up on the table and then put the door on that to give it a little bit of stability.”
Oscar Mayer was nervous about climbing up the ramp, but trusted his rescuers enough to let them help him out of the basement he’d been trapped in. Once Oscar Mayer was out of the house, Lochmann transported him back to the shelter, where he got to decompress.
“Once he got out, he was just the nicest boy,” Lochmann said.
As the Stray Rescue of St. Louis staff got to know Oscar Mayer, they realized he loved nothing more than lounging around and cuddling.
“I can’t imagine that this dog is gonna be much of anything other than a couch potato,” Lochmann said.
Given Oscar Mayer’s lovable personality, it’s not surprising that he got snatched up by adopters quickly. After everything he’s been through, he deserves a lifetime of love — and that’s exactly what his new family is giving him.
“He’s doing great in his new home,” Lochmann said.
