Tagus was abandoned in Lisbon. Now, he is “perfect recruit” at the Fire Department
“Por sometimes there are stories that seem to come from a movie. This is one of them and the main actor is a dog named Tagus “. This is how the story of a happy ending begins: a dog, abandoned as a baby, is now the “perfect recruit” in the Sapadores Bombeiros Regiment, in Lisbon.
Tagus’ story began when this animal was “abandoned at the door of the Casa dos Animals in Lisbon at just four months old”, explains a note posted on Facebook by the municipality. The animal, “of an unknown breed, or as they say, mongrel”, was “accepted by the employees and immediately treated well”.
From an early age, “I soon showed a lot of energy, a natural aptitude for anything physical activity, of course, for fun”. And it was “this penchant for games that made him stand out one day.”
One day, the Sapadores Bombeiros Regiment was being held at the Casa dos Animals in Lisbon “one of its routine training sessions to facilitate and encourage the adoption of animals, when the Tagus jumped into view”. “His energy and willingness to play made him the perfect recruit to reinforce and integrate the technical team”.
Now Tagus is 10 months old and “not yet operational” but “he trains daily with his trainer, João Pereira, to do what he did for him, save lives”. And more: “The love between trainer and trainee is palpable and João even says that in the end, when the Tagus goes into refurbishment, he’ll keep it”.
The note from the Lisbon City Council ends by recalling that, in Portugal, “about 30 thousand animals are abandoned per year”. “But luckily there are stories with happy endings like Tagus’s.”
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