Dwayne Johnson, ‘The Rock,’ mourns loss of Brutus, issues warning to other dog owners

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson announced Tuesday that he had to make the painful decision of putting down his French bulldog Brutus, just weeks after he made headlines for rescuing the dog from a pool.

In a Facebook post, the actor said Brutus ate a mushroom while playing outside with his brother, Hobbs. Within hours, the lethal toxins of the mushroom had destroyed the dog’s liver and immune system.

“Another reminder we have to live and love as greatly as we can today, because tomorrow is never guaranteed,” Mr. Johnson wrote. “At approximately 11:15pm last night myself and Lauren Hashian Official had to make the painful decision to end Brutus’ suffering by taking him off of life support and sending his soul to pup heaven. I held his lil’ paw as he was finally at peace.”

“I encourage all of you out there to be mindful of mushrooms in your yards, parks or anywhere outside your dogs play. What looks innocent, can be deadly to your lil’ family members,” he warned.

“We’ll always love you Brutus.. and you’ll always be my lil’ main man and rough housing Brute,” Mr. Johnson wrote, concluding with the hashtags ‪#‎RIPBrutus‬ ‪and #‎WishICouldveSavedYouOneMoreTime‬.

Earlier this month, the actor shared a photo on Instagram of himself holding Brutus and Hobbs after he jumped into a pool to rescue Brutus from drowning.

“I set them both down and they both take off in a full sprint and fall right into the deep end of our pool. HOBBS immediately starts doggy paddling while BRUTUS (like a brick) sink heads first to the bottom of the pool,” he explained at the time.

“I take off into a full sprint, fully clothed, dive in the pool, swim to the bottom, rescue my brick, I mean BRUTUS and bring him back to the edge of the pool. He was a little delirious.. took a moment, threw up all the water he swallowed and looked up at me as if to say, ’Thank God you didn’t have to give me mouth to mouth!’ and then ran off to play with his brother.”