A seventy-four-year-old man died days ago and the dog, Napoleon, who watched over him.

It happened this morning in the hamlet of Ottava in Sassari, when the State Police discovered the body of the man, who had apparently lived in a car for a long time, and the animal, microchipped and of 10 years of age, which was on top of him, without moving.

The officers intervened, then called the animal protection officers and their handlers, Commander Maurizio Cau and Captain Manuel Chessa, and the Local Health Authority (ASL) in the person of Doctor Giulia Pitzianti. The crossbreed was rescued and taken in by the "Qua la Zampa" shelter in Sassari.

"We hope and pray," the facility reports, "that he will gradually react and want to interact with spaces and people."

Currently, he's lost, not looking at anyone, not eating or drinking, and, they wrote on Facebook, "he urgently needs grooming. We're asking if anyone would like to help us give him a nice bath."