Sheldon the pittie mix spent weeks at the shelter waiting for someone to notice him, but was sadly repeatedly overlooked.
As The Dodo reported, the 2-year-old pup arrived at the Maricopa County Animal Care & Control back in 2016. Although he knew plenty of basic commands like “sit” and “paw”, no one seemed interested in welcoming the sweet pup into their home.
For 30 days, Sheldon waited patiently for the perfectly family to come give him a chance.
“He hadn’t had any inquiries that I noticed,” shelter volunteer Heather Haltmeyer, told The Dodo . “I never saw him doing a meet-and-greet. It’s unfortunate, but at any given time, we have about 600 to 800 animals between … [our] two shelters, so you can imagine how hard it is for one pit bull to stand out amongst 600 other pit bulls.”
In an effort to try and get the poor dog noticed by more potential adopters, Heather decided to hold a little photo shoot.
She brought Sheldon outside, fixed a bright green bow tie to his collar, and began snapping photos. Right away it was obvious that this special boy was born to be in front of a camera.
“He wasn’t shy,” Heather said. “He seemed to eat it all up.”
It was also clear that Sheldon had some pretty unique facial expressions.
“He had this adorable droopy face,” Heather said. “I instantly thought of those ‘adopt don’t shop’ ads with a goofy dog with a grumpy face, like, ‘My face when you told me you bought your dog from a breeder.’ But he’s super friendly — not grumpy at all.”
The photos were posted on the shelter’s Facebook page where they quickly blew up, receiving hundreds of shares across the platform.
As the post read,
“We may be biased, but we think Sheldon should be a doggy celebrity with all those expressions! Think of all the fun you could have taking pictures of him if you adopt!”
Just a few hours after the adorable pics were posted, a woman named Emily Chmiel got in touch with the shelter.
As it turns out, those snaps of Sheldon’s grumpy face were all she needed to see to decide he was perfect for her family.
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“I fell in love with his serious expressions in his pictures and knew he belonged in my house,” Emily told The Dodo .
Sheldon, who has since been renamed “Castiel”, now lives with Emily and his five new cat siblings.
“I adore his personality and his spunk,” Emily said. “He already follows me around everywhere.”
Photos of Castiel in his new home were shared to the shelter’s Facebook page to show just how well this “grumpy dog” has settled in with his furever family. Don’t be fooled by that adorable little scowl — this pup has never been happier!
h/t: The Dodo
