Chili came so close to make it out of hell, but his sad faith had been set before we could help him.

He was one of those dogs that touched our heart at the shelter (not that all dogs don't), but there was something about Chili that made us take him out for evaluation. We had a few potential homes in mind for him, but all had cats and Chili didn't like cats at all... Or maybe he just liked them too much.. as lunch... ;-)

Adorable little face

Finally, a day before his final date, we found him a foster home.

The day we went to bail him out, we were told his owner had just claimed him, which I thought was a little odd since it was a day after Chili's final date. If I had not put a hold on him, he would have been put down that morning and his owner would have never seen him alive. I was bothered by this late reunion, but apparently the owner was "in vacation" when the dog escaped.

So Chili went back home with the owner and we bailed out another dog instead... Everything was fine until a few weeks later. While visiting the shelter one day, I noticed a poor little red dog in terrible condition, curled up in pain at the bottom of the cage. His head was so swollen by infection I didn't recognize him at first... Then he looked at me with this hopeless look in the eyes, and my heart missed a beat. It was Chili!

I was told he had been "seized" from the owner who was going to be charged with animal cruelly. Very little details were given to me, but Chili's case had made the news in Kansas City apparently, and was not reflecting very positively on the breed.

There was nothing we could do to help him at this point.. I was told Chili was going to be put out of his misery...