Roscoe the disabled pug is rolling again, thanks to a kind-hearted reader who gave him a doggie wheelchair she no longer needed.

Tanya Jones, one of three people who offered Roscoe a replacement, showed up at his McCowan Rd. Thursday with a tiny wheelchair that her own dog used until it died a few years ago.

Roscoe’s custom-made wheelchair was stolen recently, leaving him no way to exercise, other than a clumsy sling that his owner, Christine Borsuk, uses to hold up his rear end while he hobbles on his front legs.

“It broke my heart,” said Jones, a veterinary technician at the West Hill Animal Clinic, on Lawrence Ave. E. “We had one in our garage that we weren’t using, so I wanted to get it to him.”

The 5-year-old pug’s mobility has steadily deteriorated since he was a pup, due to a kink in his spine that caused nerve damage and paralyzed his hind legs.

Roscoe seemed to know what he was looking at when Jones took the chair out of her vehicle. He sniffed it and got excited, dragging his immobile hindquarters around the laneway until Borsuk started worrying about abrasions.

She was overwhelmed by offers of donations from hundreds of Star readers who learned in the Thursday Fixer column that Roscoe’s chair had been stolen. “It’s just incredible,” she said. “It absolutely redeems my faith in human nature.”

With some fiddling and adjusting of straps, the chair seemed to fit reasonably well, allowing Roscoe to happily trot along the sidewalk in front of his home.

After the column was posted Wednesday on thestar.com, it prompted a huge outpouring of generosity, with readers as far as California, Florida, North Carolina and western Canada offering cash to buy him another.

Dog trainer Margo Hiltz called to say she had a pug that had also lost use of its rear legs and needed a wheelchair for mobility until it died, and that Roscoe could have it.

Jennifer Manson sent an email saying her late pug also used a wheelchair, which she wanted to give to Roscoe.

Joseph Noel emailed from Montreal to say he operates a prototype shop and would make a new a wheelchair for Roscoe at no cost, if he was provided with measurements.

Now that Roscoe has a replacement wheelchair, with others waiting to give him another, the many readers who offered cash to buy a new one can keep their hands in their pockets.

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But it’s reassuring to know that people will dig deep to help a dog in need.

What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in greater Toronto, we want to know. To email us, go to www.thestar.com/thefixer and click on the “submit a problem” link. Or call us at 416-869-4823.