A young British couple have finally been reunited with the abandoned puppy they fell in love with while back-packing around the world.
Paramedic Chloe Henley, 24, and security worker Alex Jewkes, 28, first laid eyes on ‘Peso’ while back-packing in the Phillipines earlier this year.
They were so heartbroken by the sorry sight of the pup who they found tied up and malnourished that they decided to call of their trip and take him home to the UK.
This week they finally got to take Peso home after he had spent three months in quarantine and they had raised more than £5,000 to repatriate him.
The pair were touring Asia and were two months into their six month trip when they heard a “screeching sound” from their hostel room and went to investigate.
It was at this point they stumbled across scared and malnourished Peso, who they named after after the local currency.
Chloe said Peso was practically living in a “rubbish pile” with “broken glass and an plastic bottles everywhere.”
“We were in a hostel when we were woken up to the sound of screeching like a dog was in pain,” the paramedic explained.
“We went out and found him tied up outside someone’s back garden. He was so small. He was trying to run but he couldn’t because the rope around his neck kept pulling him back.
“It was 35 degrees (celsius)and he didn’t have any water.”
“The knot around his neck was so tight,” Alex added.
“You actually see a lot of scars on dogs over there from where the knot has been tied too tight. The dog grows but the rope doesn’t.”
Peso was tied to a post in a construction yard in an “appalling” condition and the pair refused to leave him, persuading his owner to let them take the pup.
They cuddled him and gave him water, which was “mocked” by nearby workers.
“He was tied up and humiliated,” Alex said.
The couple were initially going to find a new home for Peso but he “kept following them” and they couldn’t bear to not take him home.
“He was became so reliant on us, we feared he wouldn’t survive on his own,” Chloe added.
But getting Peso – a local breed of dog known as an Aspin – back home to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk would prove to be a difficult task and a fundraising drive was launched in a bid to raise £5,000.
The couple “couldn’t face” the thought of Peso becoming a street dog “going through bins” and were determined to get the funds they needed to bring him home.
A vet told the couple Peso was half the weight he should be at two-months old and could have died.
Although the Chloe and Alex were due to fly off to Australia, they abandoned their travel plans to care for Peso.
It took four months and thousands of pounds to get Peso to England despite the couple initially thinking it would take them just a week.
“We didn’t have much money left so it was quite a gamble,” said Alex.
The couple could have put Peso in a vet but he would have been kept in a tiny cage for three months which is something they weren’t willing to do.
So the pair abandoned their holiday and chose to stay with Peso while he recovered.
A Go Fund Me page was set up in a bid for generous donors and they managed to raise over £5,200 to get Peso healthy and bring him to the UK.
After three months, Peso had his rabies vaccine and blood tests before he was brought to England.
Peso arrived in England on May 19 and was put in quarantine where he was released yesterday (June 24).
Seeing the pup back in England was something the couple had longed for and called the moment “incredible.”
“His mind was blown getting out of that cage and he has been running around a field all day,” Alex said.
“He is the perfect dog. Because of the circumstances in which we found him he appreciates everything.”
Now back in England, the couple have thanked everyone who donated to Peso’s journey to England saying that those people “saved his life.”
“He loves being home with us everything is so knew,” Chloe added.
“We took him for a walk this morning and he just ran through the grass. He’s perfect.”