Shelter Dog Has Been Waiting 3 Years To Be Adopted And No One Knows Why

Bear is a shelter dog that has been waiting for a forever home for over two and a half years and it’s completely puzzling to volunteers. He came to the Detroit Animal Welfare Group (DAWG) at 7 months old when he was found as a stray in Flint, Michigan. Since finding Bear, he has been to countless adoption events and is overlooked every time!

People who meet Bear seem to appreciate his sweet disposition but every time it comes down to the wire, people lose interest.

Bear was originally staying with a foster family but their circumstances changed and he had to move into a DAWG kennel. However, the staff was convinced he would be adopted right away. Now, almost three years later, he remains in his kennel, still waiting.

It’s the saddest thing, really.

“Bear is wonderful with people,” Kelly LaBonty, director of DAWG said. “He loves kids, he loves men and women. He’s very playful, and he loves to cuddle and get belly rubs. He knows his basic commands.” But there is one major issue with Bear… he doesn’t get along with other animals.

Still, this should not mean he should go without a home for this long. Many animals have this issue and have been adopted out to families before. What’s even more heartbreaking is how close Bear has come to finding a home, only to be rejected last minute!

“We did have one lady who drove an hour and a half to meet him, and she really, really liked him, and she said, ‘I think he’d be a great dog for our family,’” LaBonty said. “And it was a very good home for him — it was out in the country with a fenced yard and it was a family with kids. It was a perfect setup.”

But when Bear was driven to their home, the most devastating thing happened! “The kids decided that they didn’t want him,” LaBonty said. “They wanted a different dog.”

According to LaBonty, Bear got incredibly depressed. He didn’t even want to get back in the car to go home. He wanted to stay with the family he thought would be his family.

“He came back to the shelter, and that’s when I took a picture of him,” LaBonty said. “It went viral because it was a very sad picture. He did not want to go back in the kennel. A lot of people said, ‘I’ll take him, I’ll take him, I’ll take him,’ but 99 percent of the people who say it don’t actually mean it.”

But the cycle of rejection continued. “She started writing on our Facebook page, saying ‘I’ll take him, I’ll take him, I’ll take him,’ and ‘What’s going on? Why isn’t he getting adopted?’” LaBonty said. “So she filled out an application and we set up a meet-and-greet for her to come out to the kennel and meet him, but she never showed up.”

LaBonty adds, “He is depressed in the kennel, as most dogs get, especially after two years of being in a kennel. He has an outdoor run, so he can go in and out, but after two years of staring at the same wall, over and over and over again, they start to get very depressed.”

“Mostly he just lays on his bed with his head down,” she added.

Devastating! But even though DAWG is desperate to find Bear a home, they want the RIGHT home for him. “We don’t want to set him up to fail,” she said. “We all love him very much, and we don’t want to put him in a situation where he would fail and have a bad outcome. So that’s why we try and find him the right home for him, and hopefully it will come soon.”

If you think you can offer Bear a forever loving home, please contact DAWG immediately!

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