All shelter dogs deserve a loving home, and they all want nothing more than to be adopted. But sadly, it takes some longer than others to find their “forever home.”
For a variety of reasons, some dogs wait months or even years in shelters, constantly being overlooked as other dogs get adopted instead of them.
That’s the case for one poor dog, who has been waiting seven years to find a home, constantly passed on because she’s so shy. But now, her friends at the shelter are trying harder than ever to find Chance a home.
Chance, an American Staffordshire Terrier and a Pit Bull Terrier Mix, arrived at The Haven Animal Care Shelter in Lubbock, Texas in 2015 under sad circumstances: According to KXAN, she was rescued after being pulled away from a dog fight that left her with serious damage.
“She had her jaw just hanging down and you could tell by looking at it that she’d have to have surgery and some extensive vet care,” said Dr. Brenda Wilbanks, the rescue’s director and founder, told KXAN.
“When she came in her sweet little face was very torn up and still bleeding pretty bad,” The Haven wrote on Facebook at the time. (They also clarified that it was simply a fight with another dog, not part of a human-induced dog fighting ring.)
Chance was so skittish after the incident that her rescuers mistook her for a male, leading to her name.
“We originally thought she was a boy since she was too scared to let us near her at first. But by the time we convinced her that she was safe we had already named her Chance and figured it was still a fitting name.”
While the shelter brought her to safety and fixed up her injuries, things didn’t get much easier for Chance: the incident left her so shaken that she has remained shy and cautious around people — which has hurt her chances of getting adopted.
“She has a lot of love to give, but is just very shy,” The Haven wrote on Facebook. “She gets overlooked all the time because of this.”
Sadly, Chance remained overlooked by adopters for years. She has now been in the kennels for seven years, becoming The Haven’s longest resident.
She has made some progress in coming out of her shell: a TikTok video from January shows the dog happily going on a walk, which they called a “big deal.”
@josh.timk Give Chance a chance. #animalshelter #longstay #adoptme #adoptdontshop #untileverycageisempty ♬ State Lines – Novo Amor
Now the shelter is looking to finally get Chance a loving forever home — to find someone who will “take a chance on Chance.”
“We are waiting for someone to give her a chance, and let her be the dog she has always wanted to be,” they wrote on TikTok.
But because she’s been in the shelter for so long and has never really known a life outside the kennels — and because she’s always been shy around people — Chance will need a special home, with a family willing to give her lots of love but also put in the work to make her feel at home.
“She needs somebody to take her on outings and take her wherever and get her hamburgers and ice cream, that’s what people do for some of our other dogs,” Dr. Wilbanks told KXAN.
While it has been a long journey, the shelter hopes that Chance will finally have a happy ending soon.
They won’t give up on her, believing that even the most scared, shy animal can turn around with the right love and care, and that all shelter pets deserve to go to a good home.
“Dogs can change and we need to try to give these animals a second chance and even if they seem shy or anxious they can be the best pet anybody ever had,” Dr. Wilbanks said.
If you are interested in adopting Chance, you can reach out to The Haven or apply on Chance’s adoption page!
No dog should have to wait in a shelter for this long, and we really hope Chance finds a loving home soon!
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