All dogs are beautiful on the inside and deserve love, even if they’re not conventionally cute. Some dogs just have a “unique appearance” but are still good friendly dogs.
But apparently one family didn’t see it that way… and gave up their dog just because of the way he looked.
In 2015, an 8-week-old American Staffordshire Terrier was surrendered to a North Carolina shelter. It was apparently due to the dog’s “ugly” appearance: one ear was smaller than the other, he was blind in one droopy eye and he had an underbite.
It’s suspected that the dog’s deformities were the result of “backyard breeding.”
Despite this, he was otherwise completely healthy and has no longterm issues, so it’s hard to understand why they would want to get rid of the poor dog.
Luckily, there were people out there willing to give the dog the love he needed. Nicole Horabik, assistant director of rescue organization Cause for Paws, saw the shelter’s post about the dog and her heart sank.
“I saw the post, and I was like ‘Oh, hell no,'” Nicole told The Dodo.
She immediately took the dog in and became his foster mother. She named him Captain Morgan.
With Nicole, Captain Morgan was able to socialize with her other dogs and get the love and care he had always been denied.
Once Cap had a clean bill of health and was ready to be put up for adoption, Nicole and Cause for Paws got to work getting his story out into the world to find him the perfect family.
They posted a heartbreaking photo of Captain Morgan next to a sign:
“I was thrown away because I wasn’t perfect.”
The pic touched people’s hearts and it quickly went viral online.
“I had no idea taking that one picture of him with his sign would make him world famous, but very happy it did,” Nicole wrote on Facebook.
“I think a lot of people were touched by his story because no one is perfect and we have all been hurt in one way or another because someone didn’t see our beauty in our flaws.”
“Tons” of people reached out with adoption requests, but one family proved to be the perfect fit.
They heard about Captain Morgan online, and when they met him in person they knew it was meant to be.
Captain Morgan finally found his forever home with people who loved him just the way he is.
While Nicole was sad to see the dog go, she was thrilled he had finally found the right home.
She says she hopes his story will inspire people to take a chance on “ugly” dogs, looking past appearances to see the beauty deep down.
“What people need to take away is that imperfection is perfection,” she told The Dodo.
“Not all dogs are perfect in your eyes, but they can be amazing dogs.”
Share this inspiring story if you agree all dogs deserve love, no matter what they look like!
