Doggy ambassador for LCSO gets a promotion and a new prosthetic leg

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has another doggy ambassador.

Deputies found Hope a year ago.

“Hope was a very abused dog,” said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

She was so badly abused that a vet had to amputate her leg.

But the trauma doesn’t slow her down.

“You would think that a dog that’s abused so much and goes through such a traumatic event would have a bad attitude. It wouldn’t be good with other dogs. It wouldn’t be good with humans, it would be afraid,” Marceno said. “Hope is the opposite.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office adopted Hope and now she has a lot of people surrounding her.

“Not a bad bone in her body,” Marceno said.

She is an ambassador for the Animal Cruelty Task Force.

“We get out there, we’re proactive, we’re teaching people the laws, we’re teaching children not to abuse or neglect a dog … because people that abuse or neglect a dog 70-plus percent of the time abuse humans worse,” Marceno said.

Now, Hope is getting a prosthetic leg and a promotion to lieutenant.

Lt. Hope is still getting used to having four legs again.

Now, she can roam the halls, say hello, and continue to bring hope to everyone she meets.

“It’s amazing how much love a dog or an animal can bring out in a person and hope does that every single day,” Marceno said. “You think because she’s the pit bull she already has one stroke against her immediately. This is proof that there’s good and bad in everything.”

Hope is not the first dog LCSO has rescued. Chance was found in Lehigh Acres with his mouth taped shut. He was the first ambassador for the Animal Cruelty Task Force. He now lives with Hope.