When ‘Big Mac’ the stray came to the McKamey Animal Center, despite being a nervous wreck, nobody expected him to become the shelter’s longest-standing resident.
It was evident though, that he had a long road ahead of him, and from the off, he didn’t seem to do very well in the shelter.
“We’re not really sure what his living environment was like prior to coming to us, but it was very apparent that he didn’t trust everyone right away,” Lauren Mann told The Dodo.
Apparently, his previous humans just “didn’t have time for him and they were moving,” and therefore gave him up to the shelter.
“He did warm up with treats and when he was out of the kennel and in the play yard.”
Despite this, Big Mac clearly needed someone to be very patient with him. But as time went on, he became the shelter’s longest-standing resident.
260 days after he was first surrendered to the shelter, a miracle occurred, and Big Mac was finally adopted and was able to leave the shelter.
It was actually one of the shelter’s volunteers who had fallen in love with the timid pup and decided to make him part of her foster family.
“When my coworker took him in to foster, she said the first night he slept, like, 12 hours straight, and just really opened up and wanted to play with her other dog and even wanted to play with the cats. [He] really made a 180 and was a great dog overall.”
Big Mac’s new human had even taught him to trust humans again!
“Her resident dog took him under his wing, and when they were out for a walk and he’d get a little scared, her dog would be like, ‘No, it’s OK’, and he’d show him that it was OK and people could be trusted.”
Mann and her team at the shelter in Tennessee wanted to do something special to celebrate him leaving the shelter for the last time.
All the staff lined up together at the entrance of the shelter and gave the pup and his new human a beautiful standing ovation.
Check out the heartwarming video here:
“His new mom was surprised that he handled it so well, which shows that he’s doing a lot better with stranger danger.”
“He was just ready to go … he didn’t really care about treats or pets or anything. He was just ready to go home.”
