A one week holiday foster turned into something neither Jason nor Nikki saw coming, and the moment they proved it, the dog they’d fallen for couldn’t stop smiling.
Eugene arrived at Best Friends Pet Resource Center in Arkansas back in December, right around the holidays.
Hoping to give him a warm place to spend Christmas, the shelter reached out for a temporary foster family, and Jason and Nikki stepped up to take him in.
What was only meant to be a short term arrangement quickly turned into something much deeper.
“Eugene is the sweetest dog with both people and other pups,” said Michelle Logan, executive director of Best Friends Pet Resource Center. “
He is 100% cuddle trained!
When Jason and Nikki first brought him home, they told us that he would follow them all around the house, wanting to be near them all the time.”
By the time the week was up, the couple was torn. Eugene had settled into their home and their hearts, and returning him to the shelter felt impossible.
Still, they brought him back as planned, but not before making him a quiet promise. If he wasn’t adopted within a day or two, they would come back for him.
They didn’t need long to make up their minds. That same evening, they returned to keep their word.
When Nikki arrived to pick him up on December 28, Eugene’s reaction said everything. “He started wiggling his whole body as soon as he saw her, and the smile came out,” Logan recalled.
For Jason and Nikki, that moment erased any lingering doubt. Jason later texted the shelter, “Eugene has found a home with us. The smile at pickup last night solidified everything for us.”
Now renamed Louie, Eugene has settled fully into his forever home, inseparable from his new parents and his canine brother, Ruger.
And according to everyone who’s met him since, that unforgettable smile hasn’t faded one bit.
Sometimes the best foster fails turn into the best endings of all.
Have you ever fallen in love with a foster pet and made them a permanent part of your family?
Source:
thedodo – “Shelter Dog Can’t Stop Smiling When He Realizes He’s Finally Being Chosen”