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Every dog deserves a loving home, and thanks to a 13-year-old boy named Thiago, many are now closer to finding one. The young teen is a self-described animal lover hoping to help the stray and abandoned dogs in his home city of Antônio Prado. So, he came up with an idea. Maybe if he could make the pups on the street look more appealing, they'd have more chances to be adopted. And so he began giving baths to dogs on his spare time.
This ingenious idea is what led Thiago to create a project called Sou de rua mas to limpinho (I’m homeless but I’m clean) at the end of 2020. With the help of his father, he began looking for pups who needed a helping hand. “At the end of last year, I decided that I needed to somehow do something for the animals,” Thiago told The Dodo in 2021. “While talking to my father, I told him about my idea of bathing street dogs so they stay clean and fragrant and people look at them differently on the street.”
Before the endeavor truly took off, Thiago and his dad had to work out how to win the dogs over. “Catching dogs on the street is difficult, since they are always scared and many are victims of abuse,” Thiago explained. “So we spent some time without baths until my father spoke to the NGO Noah's Ark and we started to bathe their newly rescued dogs.” The community has been so moved by Thaigo’s project that they’ve donated pet shampoo and other bath products.
In addition to bathing the pups, Thiago started adding little accessories to the pooches, such as little hair pins that highlight the dog's personality, to really boost their chances of adoption. The boy's dad also snaps pictures of the dogs and posts them to his son's Instagram account, pointing any potential adopters to the corresponding shelters. As of July 1, Thiago has bathed 97 dogs. Since the spotlight has led them to find new homes, he feels motivated to keep going.
“[I want] people to be not afraid to adopt,” Thiago said. “It's the best thing in the world. But let them adopt the dog knowing it's not a thing or a toy. He is a being who will live a long time and who just wants to give us love.”
Thiago, a 13-year-old boy from Brazil, bathes stray dogs during his spare time to help them get adopted.
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His project, called Sou de rua mas to limping (I’m homeless but I’m clean), was launched at the end of 2020.
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“While talking to my father, I told him about my idea of bathing street dogs so they stay clean and fragrant and people look at them differently on the street,” he said.
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As of July 1, Thiago has bathed 97 dogs, and many have found their forever home.
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Antonio Prado: Instagram
h/t: [The Dodo]
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