Sarah noticed the female pit bull while walking up and down the kennels at the shelter waiting to pick some other dogs up to offer for adoption. Cinnamon caught Sarah’s attention right away. Sarah mentions that Cinnamon “was very humanlike — slumped over and very solemn”. 

She also explained that Cinnamon was not being picked up for adoption by the Greater Charlotte SPCA this time around because of a lack of foster homes for big dogs. The volunteer started talking to Cinnamon and Cinnamon appreciated it so much that her eyes were filled with tears. Sarah explains that it looked like Cinnamon had had several litters in the past and one just recently. 

However, her puppies were not in that shelter with her. She also noticed that Cinnamon was considerably overweight. Sarah made Cinnamon a video that went viral on Facebook right away and it got her many potential foster homes. Meghan Shelton, Sarah’s friend, went to visit the sad pit bull the day after the video was posted. 

“I have a special place in my heart for pit bulls”, Shelton explains. “I think they’re a very misunderstood dog and a misunderstood breed. And when I saw her in that video, literally crying in a cage, I cried. My kids cried. I showed my husband, and he said we could go look at her tomorrow.” 

It was Megan and her family who gave Cinnamon, now known as Rosie, her forever home. Check out right below the pictures of this very sad pit bull and how she was the luckiest dog to find a loving and caring family. 

More info: Greater Charlotte SPCA | h/t: TheDodo

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That was the case for one rescue dog, who became a guardian and best friend to an orphaned foal. Karla Swindle is the owner of S & K Quarter Horses in Fayette, Alabama. A few years ago, one of her horses, a 22-year-old mare named Sandy, had to be euthanized due to declining health. 

The death was especially heartbreaking for Sandy’s foal, Tye, who was left orphaned at only 9 days old.

  But an unexpected friend quickly took to comforting the orphaned baby horse: Karla’s dog, Zip. 

“Zip stayed with me in the alley of the barn all night — the foal was laying in the alley, and he just lay there beside the foal,” Karla told The Dodo. Sensing Tye’s heartbreak, Karla says the dog stayed with the foal all night, comforting him with a sympathetic paw. 

“[Zip] was laying there by his neck and the dog was whining, like crying,” she told the Lewiston Tribune, per IHeartDogs. “It just broke my heart.”

While Tye lost a mother that night, he gained a best friend: Zip quickly took on the role as the foal’s friend and guardian. “I think he’s adopted it as his baby,” Karla said. “He’s letting him know ‘you’re not alone.’” 

Dogs are emotionally intelligent animals that seem to be able to sense when someone has passed away, and it definitely seemed like Zip understood the situation and reached a helping paw to this lost foal specifically. 

“We raise foals every year, and he would kind of look in the door and just look at them,” Karla told The Dodo. “You could tell Zip knew something was wrong that night.” “This is the first time he has ever just licked on one, nudged one, laid on one,” she told the Tribune.

  Zip continued to look after Tye every day for weeks, and was eager to see his friend every morning. “Every time I would take off to the barn, Zip would run to the stall, and stand in front of the stall and wait for me to get there,” Karla told The Dodo. 

“He would beat me to the barn every time.” “As soon as I opened the door, he would about knock me down before I could get in there. If the foal was laying down, he would go over there and lay his head on him.”

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Tye has since grown up to be a happy, healthy horse, no doubt thanks to Zip’s care and friendship in his early days. Tye now spends most of his time with his fellow horses, and he’s had to “leave the nest” so to speak, getting more independent from his doggy dad. 

“You could tell that when the foal needed Zip, Zip was there for him,” Karla said. “And now Zip knows that the foal is OK, so they kind of went their separate ways.” 

While they don’t rely on each other anymore, we know these two will always be friends and have a special place in each other’s hearts.

  What a beautiful story. We love seeing stories of unlikely friendships between animals. 

It’s so sweet to see dogs take heartbroken animals under their wing and give them the love and friendship they need.
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Thankfully, he was eventually reunited with his mother! When this family in Virginia, spotted a baby fox all by itself in their backyard, they immediately realized something might be wrong. 

The fox was looking very confused, so they called the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, to ask for help. “Last night, a local homeowner heard a tiny cry coming from their garden and discovered this baby fox, alone and crying for his mother,” the Animal Welfare wrote in a Facebook post. 

“They called us right away!” Shortly after, Sgt. Ballena and Officer Elpers arrived at the scenes. After inspecting the baby fox, the two were happy to see he was a pretty good shape. 

“Thankfully he was alert, hydrated, and had a full belly,” they later wrote on Facebook. Since a baby fox’s chances of survival, without its mom are very slim, the two rescuer knew they had to find a way to reunite them. 

They were pretty sure the mother fox was around, so they came out with the perfect solution! The placed the baby into a basket in a way the mother could easily reached him, and then left the basket in the same spot the baby was found. 

Meantime, the homeowner kept an eye on it! Thankfully, the next morning everyone was so happy to find the pair was reunited! 

This happy ending would not have been possible if it wasn’t the rescuers’ smart thinking. The two officers are heroes!
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But these dogs often find real moments of joy: even the simplest things can mean so much to an animal with so little in the world. 

 Recently, one shelter dog had the best night of his life after managing to break out of his kennel in the middle of the night — and with the place to himself, he played with every toy he could find. One morning Joyce Ross arrived at work at the Bedford County Humane Society in Pennsylvania. She was surprised to be greeted by one of their dogs, Gilligan, who was out of his kennel. 

  “I see Gilligan running around all excited, playing, jumping around. I’m like. ‘Gill, how’d you get out?’” she told WTAJ.

  She soon realized exactly what Gilligan had been up to: he had been up all night partying with his favorite toys. 

 The shelter’s rooms and hallways were filled with scattered doggy toys. A now-viral TikTok video shared by the employee shows how many toys were left in his wake — and how overjoyed the dog still was. 

“By his look, I saw he was excited and had a great night all night. He was proud, very proud,” Joyce told WTAJ.

@stardust9822 Gillagan had one crazy night last night. 🥰 #funnydogvideos #shelterdogs #dog ♬ original sound - Stardust9822

It turned out that Gillian’s kennel hadn’t been properly latched the night before, so he was able to sneak out — and quickly seized on the opportunity. Security footage revealed how he spent the whole night exploring the shelter’s stock of dog toys they had just received as Christmas donations, and carefully picked out his favorite “squeaky” toys.

@stardust9822 Gilligan's crazy night caught on camera part 1 of 2. #dog #shelterdogs #funnydogvideos #shelterdogsbestlife ♬ original sound - Stardust9822

“He spent a long time checking to see if anyone was in the building,” Joyce told The Dodo. “Once he realized he was alone, he went straight for the toys.” “He went through each toy one by one to pull out each squeaker,” she told WTAJ. “And the ones that didn’t have a squeaker, he pulled out and left alone. He skipped all the ones that didn’t have squeakers. He only wanted the squeakers.”

@stardust9822 Gilligan's crazy night caught on camera part 2 of 2.#shelterdogsbestlife #funnydogvideos #shelterdogs #dog ♬ original sound - Stardust9822

Gilligan had “no remorse” over his actions, and clearly had the time of his life. And surveying the damage the next morning, the shelter employees could do nothing but laugh. 

 Joyce said that his only crime was destroying some squeaky dog toys that “had no chance” of surviving anyway. And no one could stay mad at Gilligan, who arrived at the shelter as a puppy and has spent most of his life as their loyal office mascot. 

“He is a wonderful office greeter,” Joyce told The Dodo. “Every time someone walks through the doors, he lets us know while he patiently waits for the visitor to bring him treats or even possibly a new toy. He has definitely made progress.”

Gilligan has been in the shelter’s care long enough that it sounds like he’s not a candidate for adoption. A shelter employee explained that Gilligan has been extremely anxious and afraid of meeting new people his whole life, and that the office is his “safe space.” 

“This is all he’s ever known… I don’t think we’re going to part with Gilligan,” Joyce told WTAJ. But his viral story has delighted countless people online, and the shelter staff are happy that he’s brought such publicity to the shelter after having such a fun night for himself. 

“What a great way to show off our shelter and show people that fabulous dogs are waiting at the shelter,” Joyce said. And while the staff is going to make sure to keep the kennels securely locked at night from now on, Gilligan won’t be wanting for toys any time soon, thanks to his newfound fame.

  “We had a lady call and said she would like to buy Gilligan a toy every month for the rest of his life.”
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