Sad Senior Dog Can’t Be Happier When He Gets Adopted After 2,381 Days of Rejection

Photo courtesy of Brendon Reed

A senior German shepherd mix, named Higgins, was no stranger to being ignored. The sweet boy was born in a shelter and spent exactly six years, six months, one week, and one day earnestly wishing for a forever friend to come along.

Leslie Renner, the executive director of The Humane Society of Preble County in Ohio, was used to answering one question when it came to Higgins: “Why don’t you just put him to sleep?” Renner, however, had known the even-tempered dog since he was a puppy and was not ready to give up on him.

Renner instinctively knew that the loveable senior dog would one day find a forever home, but as the days, weeks, months, and years rolled by, Higgins’s chances of finding a home grew increasingly slimmer.

Photo courtesy of Brendon Reed

Higgins was adopted from the shelter as a puppy, but it turned out to be a false start. “We heard he was nothing more than a dog chained up to a dog house,” Renner told The Dodo.

In 2012, the subdued pup found his way back to the shelter. “Someone walked in with a stray dog,“ Renner remembered, ”and it was him. Nobody ever came looking for him,” she added, “nobody ever cared.”

Higgins knew the ropes and settled back in to life at the shelter. However, a little older and a little worse for wear, the sweet pup was continually passed over. “People are looking for puppies or dogs that are six months old,” Renner explained. “When he came back he was a year old, and then two, and then three.”

Shelter workers took to Facebook to try to find him a home. “This is Higgins,” they wrote. “See that smile? Best boy ever. What’s his quirk?” they added. “He’s been at the Preble County Humane Society since Sept. of 2012. So he’s a bit awkward and shy at first.”

“This baby just needs someone that will give him some time to prove he’s the best,” staff implored. And, mercifully, their message in a bottle reached the perfect person.

On Higgins’s 2,381st day in the shelter, a purposeful man named Brendon Reed walked in. “I’m here to take Higgins home,” he said, stunning staff into a momentary silence. The 22-year-old had just bought his first home in Xenia, Ohio, and after seeing the now-8-year-old Higgins’s photo and heartbreaking story online, Reed knew immediately that this dog was the only dog for him.

Photo courtesy of Brendon Reed

“He just seemed so cute," Reed told The Dodo. “I don’t know how he didn’t get adopted.”

The shelter posted another triumphant message on Facebook to celebrate the momentous occasion. “Higgins, a long-time resident of the Humane Society of Preble County, from September 23, 2012, to April 30, 2019, has finally found his home,” they wrote. “We always hoped his day would come, and we never gave up.”

Photo courtesy of Brendon Reed

Higgins, they shared, now loves couch time, TV, and running in his very own backyard. “It was so sad to think he might never get his chance,” they added, “but today his angel came through our front door. We are so grateful and know that Higgins will be an awesome addition to this young man’s life.”

Photo courtesy of Brendon Reed

Reed’s is the perfect home for this deserving senior pup. Reed’s family has adopted from Preble County in the past, and Reed himself is no stranger to rehabilitation.

“I work for a felony re-entry organization,” the young man told WDTN, “and we’re all about giving guys a second chance who haven’t gotten that from normal society.”

It’s a match made in heaven. And for sweet, patient Higgins, it was well worth the wait.