Sometimes, a person and a dog are just meant to find each other.
As KMOV 4 reported, Brandon Boyers wasn’t at Jackson County Animal Shelter in Michigan looking for dogs. In fact, he had shown up that day with the sole purpose of purchasing two chickens, and had no interest in seeing any of the other animals at the facility.
It was just by pure chance that he would happen to lay eyes on a puppy who would soon become his toddler son’s new best friend.
Brandon and his wife, Ashley, have a son named Bentley who was born with a cleft lip.
At only 2 years old, Bentley has had a pretty rough go of things so far, thanks to his birth defect. He’s undergone multiple surgeries to try and correct it, and he used to struggle to even eat properly.
“We had to sit him up and feed him and hold his lip together in order for him to eat,” Ashley explained . “So it was a process.”
On the day Brandon was meant to just be looking at chickens at the shelter, he surprised his wife with a FaceTime call.
He had someone he needed to show her, because it was a very special puppy, not a chicken, who had caught his eye.
“He goes, ‘I think this one has a cleft lip’,” Ashley recalled. “And I said, ‘Get her. We need her.'”
As it turns out, Brandon had inadvertently found quite possibly the most perfect puppy for his son, Bentley.
The 2-year-old pup was also born with a cleft lip, just like her soon-to-be best pal, and Bentley’s parents knew they needed to welcome this sweet girl home to show him that he’s not alone.
“To see him have something in common with a puppy means a lot cause he can grow up and understand that him and his puppy both have something that they can share in common,” Ashley said.
Jackson County Animal Shelter shared several heartwarming pictures of the moment Bentley met his new best friend on Facebook.
In the photos, the joy on the little boy’s face is clear as he cuddles his puppy close.
“They instantly loved each other,” the shelter wrote online. “We wish many years of joy as this special pair grow up together!”
Since being posted last week, those photos have gone viral, amassing over 27,000 reactions and more than 33,000 shares.
In the comments section, people have expressed their joy at seeing the little boy find the most perfect puppy possible.
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“I wish Bentley and his new friend all the best for their life together and a lot of fun,” one person wrote, while another added, “Truly a special bond indeed.”
It certainly seems like fate brought these two together, as the shelter revealed it’s not often they see puppies born with cleft lips.
“[The puppy’s] disability is really not holding her back and as she grows they’ll be able to see more if there’s anything changing that has to do with that, but she’s really doing well,” Jackson County Animals Services Director Lydia Sattler told KMOV 4 .
“She might look a little different than a normal dog would but it’s not slowing her down at all.”
h/t: KMOV 4 , Facebook | Jackson County Animal Shelter – Michigan
