For over a year, mail carrier Ian Burke made a stop that meant more than just delivering the mail.
Along his Texas route, he’d visit Ken Meyer, a disabled Vietnam veteran who used a wheelchair, and Meyer’s loyal 70-pound dog, Pretty Boy Floyd, who waited eagerly for him at the door every single week.
Their friendship became a quiet routine both men looked forward to. But eventually Burke was reassigned to a different route, and he lost touch with Meyer and Floyd, the way these things sometimes go.
Then came news that stopped him in his tracks. Ken Meyer had passed away in May, and Floyd, his devoted service dog, had been surrendered to a local animal shelter with no family left to take him in.
Burke couldn’t let that be the end of Floyd’s story. The very next day, he showed up at the shelter before it even opened, determined to be first in line to adopt him.
“He’s a very handsome boy. So well-behaved, very kind to everybody, never met a stranger. Just the ideal dog,” Burke said of Floyd.
Burke isn’t entirely sure what breeds make up Floyd, though he guesses there’s some German shepherd and border collie in the mix. What he does know is that Floyd likes to “herd” his toys and patrol the house like he’s still on duty, still watching over someone.
Burke has said he doesn’t see what he did as anything extraordinary. “I think what I did is just the normal thing for letter carriers to do, which is to help people,” he shared, adding that he hopes his story encourages others to consider adopting from shelters too.
Floyd’s journey from a beloved veteran’s side, to a shelter kennel, to a brand new home with someone who already knew and loved him, is a gentle reminder that loyalty doesn’t have to end when a person’s story does.
Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for someone we’ve lost is to care for who, or what, they loved most.
Source:
usps – “This dog stole a letter carrier’s heart”