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Dog Let Down By Many, Leaves Shelter With His Head Held High

By: Julie Hunt
Julie Hunt is an avid dog lover and writer for iHeartDogs.com, and has a background as a veterinary technician. She rescued a beautiful former bait dog named Rory.Read more
| October 7, 2024

No dog should ever have to experience the heartbreak of being abandoned, but that’s exactly what happened to Stanford, a sweet Pit Bull mix. His world was shattered when his owners left him alone in a park, walking away without ever looking back. Thankfully, fate had something better in store for him, as a kind family found Stanford and immediately reached out to the Rockdale County Animal Shelter in Georgia to ensure he was taken care of. The family, touched by Stanford’s gentle nature, couldn’t get him out of their minds.

Humans and Animals United/Facebook

Soon after, they returned to the shelter to fill out adoption papers, hoping to give him a new life filled with love. When they visited Stanford in his kennel, he greeted them with joy, sensing that his dream of having a forever family was about to come true.

But things didn’t unfold as expected. The next time the family came to see him, Stanford excitedly stood on his back legs, his paws reaching through the kennel bars as he looked at them with hopeful eyes, eager to go home. Sadly, they hadn’t returned to take him with them—they came to say goodbye.

Humans and Animals United/Facebook

Due to restrictions at their rental property, they weren’t allowed to adopt him after all. Heartbroken, they had to explain that they couldn’t bring him home. “Their final goodbye was heartbreaking,” wrote Humans and Animals United on Facebook.

Stanford watched, confused and devastated, as the family walked away, leaving him behind for the second time. With tears in his eyes, he retreated to the corner of his kennel, losing hope. Worse still, his name was added to the shelter’s euthanasia list, and he seemed to accept that no one would come for him.

Humans and Animals United/Facebook

But Stanford’s story didn’t end there. Word of his tragic situation reached the kind folks at Humans and Animals United, a Florida-based animal rescue group. When they heard what had happened to Stanford, they were determined to help. The team immediately began working on finding him a foster home, and once they had one lined up, they rushed to the Rockdale shelter to save him.

@humansandanimalsunited/TikTok

When Stanford realized he was being freed from his kennel, his entire demeanor changed. His eyes lit up, his tail wagged, and he practically radiated joy. The shelter staff couldn’t hold back their emotions as they watched the once-sorrowful dog leave with a new lease on life. “Our boy left the shelter today in the happiest of spirits!” Humans and Animals United shared on Facebook. “This was the start of his new life!”

@humansandanimalsunited/TikTok

Stanford was taken to a clinic for a full medical checkup, and once cleared, he moved into his foster home. There, he found kindness, warmth, and love—things he had longed for but had been denied in his past. Though Stanford was grateful for the affection he received from his foster family, he still dreamed of finding his forever home.

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He now waits for the day when he can finally offer his loyalty and love to a family who will never turn their back on him. After all the heartache he’s endured, Stanford deserves nothing less than happiness and a lifetime of unconditional love. Click play below to see Stanford leave the shelter. He’s so happy!

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@humansandanimalsunited ❤️ STANFORD HAS BEEN RESCUED BY HUMANS AND ANIMALS UNITED! Please honor pledges via PayPal at haauinc@gmail.com or via Venmo at humansandanimals-unitedinc or via Zelle at 8137631199 Our boy left the shelter today in the happiest of spirits! He knew this was the start to his new life! There are no words to describe it! Seeing him brought so many tears to everyone around. Thank you all because again, once we posted to save him all of you jumped right in to help us. We are a rescue that saves lives but with that, education comes into place to build a better world for these dogs. When you see a rescue posting a dog, that means they are working on that dog to save his or her life. Placing a hold doesn’t guarantee the safety of that dog. What it means is that a rescue is working on saving that life and for that much is needed. A foster, pledges, plans for transports, medical care etc. As a rescue we will post the dog we have been asked to save last minute. We will post the dog on all social media sites as our main focus is finding a foster! As you know many dogs with other rescues are stuck in boarding and that’s not what we want for our dogs. Many networkers will make their own posts to help save the pup. Everyone works diligently to save the dogs life. Do not assume a rescue hold means that a rescue is obligated to pick up the dog because they are not. Also, many things can go wrong before pick up as we all know. A dog is not safe until out of the building. There are some horrible people who will post over and over that the dog has a rescue hold to confuse everyone and stop foster offers from coming in. This is what happened in Stanford’s case. So many dogs in need all over the world. We save the ones we can save with your help. Stanford is one of the lucky pups who with everyone’s help found a foster. He will be sleeping in a home, in a warm bed for the 1st time very soon. He is not at the vet where once cleared medically he will go to his foster home. ❤️ Thank you all for your continued support in our rescue mission! As always we will stand by our dogs and fight for the no matter what❤️ #Humansandanimalsunited #georgia #rosafond #HAAU #Florida #haau #animalrescuer #coralsprings #savinglives #hernandocounty #brooksville #SURVIVOR #rescuedogsoftiktok #animalrescue #humansandanimalsunited ♬ original sound – Nwe Lay ( Pku )

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