Toro is a five-year-old rescue whose obsession for hugging everyone he meets made him an Internet sensation. Judging by the kindness he shows to every human being he sees, you might think he was always showered with love and affection, but it was actually very far of that. Quite the opposite!
When a rescue team from the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter found him, the friendly pup was chained at an abandoned house with two other dogs. The way the three dogs were looking leave the impression they had been kept outside for years. But despite they have been treated that way, didn’t stop them to wag tails when meeting their rescuers. And Toro above them, just started to hug every member of the team. It was so clear then as now that this doggies have such a gentle soul.
“When he first came in, he was pretty nervous,” Melissa Fogarty, volunteer at Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter told THE DODO. “The hugging happened probably within 15 minutes of having him out loose in our side play yard. He just kind of crawled up to me, climbed on my lap, and pressed himself against my chest … from there it grew and now he hugs all his friends here.”
Once Toro arrived at the shelter, his friendly loving nature did not chance. On contrary, every time someone stepped inside, the adorable dog just met them with his arms widely open. “Every time he comes out of the kennel, his first reaction is to hug the person walking him, and anyone, really, he comes in contact with,” Melissa Fogarty said.
But despite being such a gentle soul, Toro is still waiting for someone to adopt him, almost a year after he got rescued. “I honestly think he hasn’t been adopted because he’s a middle-aged pit mix living in a high-intake municipal shelter,” Melissa said. “He gets lost in this sea of dogs that don’t show well in their kennels.”
