Hungry Puppy
When a bright young woman went out for a slice of pizza with her girlfriends she saw a huge dog outside the shop and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. He looked so terribly hungry and oh so precious.
Little did she know that this dog had a much deeper story to tell.
Everyone’s Obsession
Pizza! Everyone loves a good slice of hot, cheesy pizza, whether you like a deep dish pie oozing with mozzarella or a thin crispy base with, dare I say it, pineapple.
I think everyone can agree that pizza is a worldwide obsession, and it may well hold the global title for favorite food anywhere… or does it?
A Bite To Eat
It was a young woman named Estrella that spotted the big black dog outside a Little Caesars in Mexico City, where she and her girlfriends had decided to get lunch, in fact, she could hardly miss the large guy as he stared through the glass doors, straight into her eyes.
He looked so sorrowful and desperately hungry.
Staring Contest
She immediately grabbed her phone and snapped the poor pup’s picture a few times. He was cute, but she was a bit more worried that he was lost. Estrella wanted to get his picture circulating as soon as she could to get the hungry hound back home, where ever that may be.
She didn’t know that there would be a surprising twist along the way.
Hungry?
If it was you who saw a hungry dog sitting patiently and peacefully outside of a pizza shop, you might almost be tempted to save him a slice.
Estrella however, knowing that pizza wasn’t exactly a healthy food, didn’t give in to the temptation and instead confidently walked right up to the giant canine.
A Winning Act
Upon closer inspection, Estrella saw that the old black dog was actually a very large dog indeed, especially around the waistline. Clearly, his doe-eyed gazes into customers souls had been a winning act for some time.
She patted the dog on the head and was about to leave when she saw something around his neck.
A Place To Stay
Glancing down at the pooch she saw that he was, in fact, someone’s dog because of the collar he wore around his neck.
Hoping to find a number or address on the dog’s tag she flipped the big red piece of metal over but she didn’t find any type of identification, she found something a lot stranger.
Don’t Give Me Pizza
There was a very clear message that was etched onto his dog tag, and it was seriously messing with his well-rehearsed play. The tag read: “Don’t give me pizza. Thank you.”
But the tag hasn’t deterred this determined dog from waiting outside of the Little Caesars every day, giving strangers big puppy eyes. And he isn’t the only one.
Fast Food
Just a few weeks ago, another dog named Princess was also caught red-handed posing as a stray in front of a McDonald’s. She was sweetly convincing the drive-through customers to feed her hamburgers and fries.
Well, now it looks like this isn’t the only pooch who begs for free food or has an expanding waistline.
Instant Fame
After Estrella posted his pictures, with the following caption “This cute puppy was super fat and wanted us to feed him pizza, but oh surprise!!!! poor little dog, he stayed with the desire [for pizza] ” to her Facebook account.
Then, the dog found almost instant fame, going viral with over 26,000 likes and 62,000 shares to date.
Mysterious Owner
After his fame skyrocketed to an internet sensation more digging was needed to uncover the truth about this pudgy pooch, everyone wanted to know more. Clearly, someone loved him enough to look out for his health and waistline.
But who was this mysterious owner and where exactly did this dog live?
Further Investigation
Further investigation found that the now famed dog actually belonged to a shop nearby. When Estrella found out she simply had to go and visit. She walked into the shop and lo and behold, there was the pizza-loving pooch.
His name the owner told her is “El Jefe,” or The Chief, and at 10 years old he was an experienced pizza addict.
Another Tag
He had such a taste for the cheesy delight that this was, in fact, his second ‘do not feed me pizza’ tag as he had mysteriously lost the first one. Estrella was over the moon that he did have a loving family.
But why would a stranger have such concern over a dog? Estrella had some secrets of her own.
A Pro
Estrella is, in fact, currently a student of the Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics at the Faculty of Higher Studies and so it makes perfect sense that she would be concerned for the welfare of all animals, especially animals in need.
Would ‘The Chief’ need her again sometime in the future?
A Student
Being a student of veterinary medicine and Zootechnics, Estrella knows all too well how much an unhealthy diet in dogs can impact their health. We all know pizza is not exactly healthy, but carb packed pizza can pose serious problems in canines, especially as they get older.
What else could she do to get him out of his unhealthy habits?
Animal Lover
Putting a tag on ‘The Chief’ is a good start, as long as people read it, or perhaps a sign at the restaurant and let the staff know to inform customers not to part with their precious pizza.
She was coming up with all kinds of plans to help him turn his life around.
I Don’t Want It To End
But you do have to admire ‘The Chiefs’ dedication to his pizza passion. Even with the tag, he still patiently sits and waits outside the pizza shop.
And he is still putting on the same pitiful play that has worked so well, hoping against hope that no one checks the tag that could end it all.
Free Pizza
The post went viral for a few reasons, mostly because it’s extremely impressive that The Chief is so good at getting free pizza that his owner actually had to go to the effort of putting an engraving on his tag.
And they had to get it for him “because he couldn’t control himself with the pizza,” as one of the shop assistants said.
Neighbors
Likewise, the McDonald’s dog ‘Princess’ is also under close observation by her owner. Amidst all of her fame, her owner actually went to go film her and her wily ways.
Believe it or not, Princess even tried to con her own mom, that is, until she realized who it was and high-tailed it home.
Delicious!
Dogs it seems, are smarter than we give them credit for and also enjoy the same salty fried food that we all love indulging in from time to time. It probably just shouldn’t be every meal of every day.
So maybe we should all just hold on to our pizza (and burgers) and let the owners do the feeding.