In 2016, a bully mix named Little Bear was born. According to People, he was bred by a man who breeds dogs in his basement, and at only four-weeks-old he was sold over Craigslist.
Since he was removed from his mother at too young an age, Little Bear needed to be bottle-fed. However, the man who purchased him for his six-month-old son did not know about the work required, and wasn’t willing to do it.
So he got rid of the dog. Luckily, he managed to contact Social Tees, a New York City-based animal rescue—but was going to abandon the puppy in the street if they didn’t take him.
Thank god, they did—and Little Bear finally began to get the care he needed by people willing to put in the work.
Little Bear was taken to the vet and was back on track to grow up nice and healthy. The shelter kept up his proper nutrition plan, hoping to eventually get him adopted when he was grown and ready.
They also continued to share Little Bear’s story on social media, hoping that his unfortunate story would raise awareness against basement breeders and unethical dog sales. It even inspired the local police to get involved with the effort to shut down these operations.
“They heard Little Bear’s story and were inspired to get started trying to figure out how to shut down these Craigslist puppy sellers, our fingers are crossed!” Social Tees wrote in a Facebook post. “Education and raising awareness are the keys to solving these problems and preventing animals like this puppy from needing rescue in the first place.”
With proper care and love, Little Bear was growing up fast.
He was brought in to a foster home, where he got to socialize with other dogs, an important part of his emotional development. When he was about 7 weeks old, the shelter began taking applications for adoption.
Finally, Little Bear’s story got a happy ending: by October, a family in New York City had adopted him. After the ordeal he went through, he finally got the happy forever home he deserved.
Little Bear recently turned three. His pet parents have been keeping an Instagram of his adventures. You can see how much he’s grown up and settled into his new home.
Everything worked out for Little Bear, but not all dogs have the same happy ending. It’s important to continue working to end reckless and illegal dog breeding and sales—and hope animal rescues continue to help out the victims.
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