There are far too many lonely animals pining away in shelters, all waiting to be adopted into a decent home. Despite their best efforts to get them all adopted as soon as possible, shelters sometimes find that things just don’t work out and the animals must stay caged up for a long time.
That’s currently the case for one unlucky pooch whose very long tenure at an animal shelter has earned him the nickname “Britain’s Loneliest Dog.”
Sam, the lurcher, has been a resident at the Destitute Animal Shelter in Bolton, Greater Manchester since February 2017. He was first rescued in 2014, but Sam has had poor luck staying in a home for very long.
“Sam has been so unlucky, and it’s through no fault of his own,” Karen Rickards, manager of the Destitute Animal Shelter, told LAD Bible. “It’s never anything Sam’s done, he’s just constantly found himself in the wrong home at the wrong time.
She says Sam’s last owner passed away in 2017, and another family just didn’t work out for him. He was returned to the shelter only after six months.
Now the eight-year-old dog has been in their care for over 900 days, now making him the shelter’s oldest resident. But the shelter remains committed to finding Sam his forever home with a loving owner.
“We need to find someone who can take care of him,” Rickards says. “He deserves nothing less than an amazing home.”
The shelter recently created a post about Sam on their Facebook page, encouraging folks to send in their adoption requests. Despite the fact that he’s older than most shelter dogs and has been in the shelter for an unusually long amount of time, Sam is still a very loving dog.
“Sam is a great dog, he is fun and makes you laugh,” the shelter wrote. “He is playful and loving and can be quite lazy as well.”
However, he’s not the right dog for just any family. The post says he needs to be the only pet in the home and kept on a leash, as the dog is inclined to chase small animals like rabbits and cats. He’s also good with children over six.
And it might be a good idea to keep him away from your stuffed animal collection:
“He is obsessed with teddy’s and likes rip them up to see what’s in side,” the shelter says.
Well, who doesn’t right?
Sam’s story spread like wildfire online, and many expressed their sympathy for the longtime shelter resident.
“I hope someone takes him in soon, no dog should have to wait this long to find their forever home,” one commenter wrote.
So far it doesn’t look like Sam has found his forever home just yet, but many people have expressed interest in adopting him. Hopefully, something finally works out for this deserving pup, and he finds his perfect forever home soon.