Man's Idea To Stop Wife Getting Attached To Foster Dog Fails Spectacularly

A man's effort to stop his wife from getting attached to their foster dog has backfired spectacularly as she gave him an adorable nickname and even got him his own hilarious outfit.

The dog's jail-inspired style was the brainchild of husband-and-wife Cooper and Amanda Waltz who live in the Oklahoma City Metro area.

With two dogs of their own, the couple were left in a pinch when they found the dog starving, alone and roughed up near a busy rural road.

"We were on the way home from dinner and saw him darting in and out of the scrub brush near the road. He was very skittish and dirty, but we used our leftover pasta to lure him close enough we could grab him," Waltz told Newsweek. "He yelped in fear but was so malnourished he couldn't fight back very hard. We cleaned him up and fed him and took him to the vet the next morning."

But when they took him to the vet, they discovered that every dog rescue and public animal shelter in the area was so overwhelmed they could not take in any more strays.

Praising the work of Oklahoma rescues including Country Road Animal Rescue Society, Safe Haven Animal Rescue, Oklahoma Alliance for Animals and the Bella SPCA, he said: "They are doing incredible work, they're just beyond overwhelmed."

With no chip, collar or tags, they couldn't find an owner and took the dog in themselves. Sadly though, the couple's HOA only allows a maximum of two dogs, meaning that they couldn't keep him for long.

As a result, Waltz explained that he told his wife not to get too attached to the pup, and they dubbed him "Inmate #003."

The name stuck, and before long Amanda had got Inmate #003 his very own outfit—a black and white striped jail suit.

Each year 6.3 million pets are surrendered to U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet 'Shelter Watch Report' found. Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and behavior rehabilitation.

Estimated to be between six months and a year old, Inmate #003 is now safe and being cared for by the couple before he goes to his new home—and luckily, he isn't going far.

"My wife's mother is set to take him at the end of October," said Waltz. "Amanda's mom's only dog passed away a few years ago, and she lives all alone, so honestly I don't think the situation could have worked out better."

Inmate #003 has made quite the impact online where the adorable picture received over 24,000 upvotes on Reddit and hundreds of comments.

"This inmate doesn't want to run," joked one commenter. "He wants to stay furever with a loving fam."

Another Redditor made the well-placed pun of "Pawshank redemption," and one commenter wrote: "Just looking at this photo, I'd want to keep him."

"The reaction was surprising. Both in how popular the post got and the reaction to HOAs. I know a lot of people don't like them, but I was surprised at the enthusiasm and ways people were suggesting to get around them," said Waltz.

"Also, my wife's sister has a service dog, so the number of people suggesting using emotional support animal as a loophole was kind of frustrating," he added. "But otherwise, I was very grateful for all the people that were excited about Inmate #003."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.