A Dog That’s Been in a Shelter for Five Years Is Getting a Billboard to Find His Forever Home

MERRICK HAS LIVED MOST OF HIS LIFE IN A SHELTER. NOW, HE’S GETTING THE ROYAL TREATMENT TO FIND A FOREVER HOME.

There are so many dogs who need a forever home. But Merrick, a 5-year-old Bull Terrier Lab mix, is an extra special case: This little guy has been at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City for most of his life. The shelter’s many attempts to get him adopted—through photo shoots, promotional videos, and so on—have fallen flat. But now, that’s all about to change for this shelter dog: He’s getting his very own billboard!

According to his Petfinder profile, Merrick was abandoned by his family at a garage sale, and was in very poor health when he arrived at the shelter. “He was about 5 months old and he had an abscess on the left side of his face that went untreated for months and grew to a horrible size,” the profile reads.

Now healthy, Merrick is “very loving and silly and lots of fun,” and “all he really asks for in life is a fenced yard and someone to play fetch.” The only downside is that he “would not be a good match for young children,” and needs to be the only pet in the household.

Since it’s been a challenge to find the perfect place for Merrick, Scott Poore, the founder of an animal rescue assistance organization called Mission Driven, had the idea to put Merrick on a billboard, in the hopes that someone driving by it would see his adorable face, fall in love, and finally take him home. Poore started a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money for the billboard and it’s raised nearly $4,000 of its $5,000 goal at the time this article was published.

“Merrick has lived at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City for the last 1,668 days, which is almost his entire life,” Poore wrote on the fundraiser page. “He has no idea what it’s like to live in a loving home and it breaks my heart…He is my number one priority and nothing would make me happier during the holidays than to know that Merrick finally found his hero.”

We hope Merrick gets his wish! After all, every dog deserves a home, especially around the holidays.

Don’t forget to SHARE this with your friends and family.