There are countless dogs waiting in shelters, hoping to one day find their forever home.
Unfortunately, some have to wait longer than most to get adopted. And sadly, the longer a dog is in a shelter the less likely it is to find a home, as older dogs are less likely to be taken home.
That was the case for one lonely dog, who waited years in a shelter for eight years… until a couple finally gave him a home.
Few of the animals cared for by Teckels Animal Sanctuary in Gloucestershire, England have been there longer than a staffie named Roxy. Despite the shelter’s best efforts to get her adopted, no one would take her home because she was so anxious and nervous.
Many years passed, and Roxy stayed in the shelter as other dogs found homes. She was getting older, too: she turned 10 last year with no owner in sight.
It was looking like Roxy would never find a home… until a miracle happened.
Leanne Wenham, a dog groomer, heard about Roxy on the shelter’s website, and was struck by how long the dog had been waiting for a home—over seven years.
She decided to go see the dog with her partner Sam Green. “We thought that we would see how it goes,” she told Gloucestershire Live.
But Roxy was still nervous. It would take a long time to her trust… luckily, this couple was willing to put the work in. They continued visiting for six months.
“At first she ignored us but we went up to see her every Thursday and Sunday,” Leanne said. “At first we would sit in the cage with her and then eventually we were able to walk and cuddle her.”
“It does not usually take a dog that long to get used to someone but she needed extra time.”
The shelter helped them get to know the dog. Roxy was known to be very intelligent, so they brought her games to help bond. Months passed, and the dog was starting to come out of her shell and trust the couple.
“After a while they did not have to supervise us being with her when we were making our visits,” Leanne said. “We were able to just sign in and go to see her.”
It was clear that this was finally the real thing: in December, the couple officially adopted Roxy. After 2,786 days in the shelter, she finally had a home.
“We wanted to adopt her because no animal deserves to go pretty much their whole life without knowing what a truly loving home is like, and she was just amazing with us from the first day,” the couple wrote on Facebook. “It was almost as though she knew she was going to live with us one day.”
And the timing was perfect: they took her home right before the holidays, meaning Roxy finally got to spend her first Christmas in a real home.
“We have already got her a Christmas jumper and there are already presents… We will be getting her toys and tennis balls as she loves tennis balls,” Leanne told Gloucestershire Live.
“Roxy definitely deserves it,” she added. “As a rescue it can be touch and go, but now she knows that she is home.”
It’s great to see this lonely dog finally got the happy ending she deserves! Thank you to his new family for giving her the love and patience she needed when no one else would.
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