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Two-legged dog Faith’s owner won’t adopt two-legged puppy after all

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It’s a story twist that, we think, can only be called bizarre. The planned adoption of a two-legged puppy by the owner of the two-legged dog named Faith, who became a phenomenon with her ability to walk upright on her two hind legs, appears to be off.

As we reported last week, Faith was to get a baby ‘brother’ in the form of a two-legged puppy who was found abandoned on the side of a road in central Florida. The puppy and his littermates were taken in by an area rescue group called Pet Rescue by Judy, and group members contacted Jude Stringfellow, Faith’s owner and the person who taught her to walk.

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Stringfellow said she would adopt the puppy, whom she planned to call Tanker, and teach him to walk on his two hind legs as Faith does. She even hoped to feature Tanker in the starring role in a movie she plans to make about Faith. But then things took a turn, as the Orlando Sun-Sentinel explains:

[Stringfellow] and [Pet Rescue by Judy founder Judy Sarullo] had initially planned for the puppy to be picked up next week, but Sarullo said that she had miscalculated when he would be ready to travel. She also said that Stringfellow needed to fill out an adoption application and wouldn’t be able to pick up the puppy until he had been neutered. The soonest he could be picked up would be the end of February, she said. Stringfellow said she needed to start working with him as soon as possible so his body could develop in such a way that he could walk upright. Without her training, she worried about the pressure he was applying to his chest and chin. If she had to wait much longer to start working with him, she said it might hamper his ability to walk upright at all.

The two seemed to hit an impasse, and reports even suggested that Stringfellow -- who said she had had a verbal agreement about the puppy with Sarullo -- may have sent emails to the rescuer that implicitly threatened legal action. Now that the deal is off, Sarullo says she’s calling the puppy by his original name, Hope, rather than Tanker. Furthermore, she says, other potential adopters have expressed interest in the puppy.

‘I’m sorry everything went sour,’ Sarullo told the Sun-Sentinel. ‘That wasn’t the intent, but the dog will be well taken care of. I wish her the best.’

--Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda / Associated Press

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