Luke Bryan has accomplished many things in his career: fourteen number-one hits across nine albums, seven million albums and 27 million singles sold worldwide. But for my money, he just did the best thing ever: adopting a dog that nobody wanted.
This is about a dog named Poochie.
No, this wasn’t the annoying test-marketed addition that nobody wanted. The Poochie we’re talking about is a soulful, grey-whiskered old dog from a rescue organization in Bryan’s adopted hometown of Nashville.
Here’s Poochie.
Named for a biblical verse that states, “The righteous care for the needs of their animals,” the rescue organization reported that poor Poochie had been given away at the age of 18.
Poochie needed a home.
The rescue volunteers had been posting his handsome face all over social media, but there were no takers. It’s hard to fault people, though — most aren’t in the market for an 18-year-old dog.
This dog needed a hero.
If you read the headline, you know that the hero is none other than country music superstar Luke Bryan…along with his wife Caroline, who also deserves huge credit in this story.
Here’s the happy moment.
Luke’s wife, Caroline, came in to take Poochie to his forever home. As we’ll see though, Luke and Caroline are animal lovers — and a generous, empathetic move like this is hardly out of character.
Poochie will have plenty of company.
Luke and Caroline have pets — including this tuckered-out old doggo in the backseat of Luke’s truck — but their commitment to animals goes way beyond just having a couple of household pets.
Luke and Caroline run Brett’s Barn.
Named for Caroline’s late niece, Brett’s Barn is a place for a menagerie of animals to live a comfortable life. It’s a story that will hit you right in the feels.
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It’s about keeping a promise.
Caroline wrote that, after her niece passed away, she decided to honor a promise she’d made involving a white pony. Caroline and Luke adopted the pony (along with a goat, a pig and a second pony) and Brett’s Barn was born.
Now they have about 20 animals.
From ponies to pigs to llamas to goats, it looks like there’s never a dull moment at Brett’s Barn. Caroline’s Insta account is full of pics from day-to-day life on the farm.
You might be able to visit someday.
It’s still early days for Brett’s Barn, but in the site’s About section, Luke and Caroline say that they’d like to explore opening it for the public to enjoy some day.
It looks like a great spot for Poochie.
Luke is a man of relatively few words on Twitter, but this recent tweet confirms that, yes, Poochie is Luke’s new buddy and yes, Luke is loving him.
It’s a big-hearted family.
You wouldn’t know it from his good-natured persona, but Luke and Caroline have dealt with serious tragedy: they lost niece Brett, along with Luke’s sister and her husband, all far too young.
They’ve opened their doors and their hearts.
Following the death of Luke’s sister Kelly, he and Caroline adopted Kelly’s three kids — adding them to a family that already included two kids and a couple dozen animals to boot!
Stories like this are important.
They help to humanize the stars we love and give us some insight into what they’re really like. In a world of bad news, it’s refreshing to see that people like Luke Bryan are awesome.
What animals would you like to have?
Many of us have cats and dogs, but if you had Luke Bryan money, what kinds of animals would you put on your dream farm? I’m going for sloths. Tell us what you think in the comments!
