Last November, a group of shelter workers in Oklahoma, were gearing up for the holiday season when they unexpectedly welcomed a pair of stray dogs. The experienced rescuers were used to saving multiple animals at a time, but these two had a stronger bond than most.
The two heeler mixes, later named Bonnie and Clyde, went everywhere together. They were grateful for the love and care of their new caregivers, but they really thrived in each other’s company.
After receiving clean bills of health, Bonnie and Clyde’s caregivers started advertising them for adoption. Within a few days, a family fell in love with Clyde and decided to take him home — but no one showed up for Bonnie.
Later that night, the heartbroken girl curled up on her empty bed and burrowed her head in sadness.
“Bonnie is all alone since her brother got adopted,” the shelter wrote on “[S]he definitely misses having a sibling to cuddle with …”
The rescue team watched as Bonnie became more and more depressed each day. They made sure to shower her with loving affirmations and include her in fun events, like their local Christmas parade, but there was still something missing.
Nobody was showing interest in adopting her, and the sweet girl’s caregivers couldn’t understand why.
“She loves kids and doesn’t seem to mind other dogs,” volunteer Jennifer Eshelman Doty wrote in a after taking Bonnie to the Christmas parade. “She walked on-leash [perfectly] at the parade … She is 100 percent [a] good girl!”
After one particularly lonely night, shelter staff shared a picture of Bonnie alone on her bed, hoping this plea for help would get more attention than the others they’d already posted of her. They were overjoyed when a loving dog mom arrived the next morning asking to adopt Bonnie.
The team wished Bonnie a tearful goodbye, and they waved as she set off to meet the rest of her new family.
Bonnie, renamed Ember, now lives with her mom, Brayden Routh, and an older sister, Tally, who looks just like her. She’s so excited to have a sibling again, having found the same love in Tally that she once had with Clyde.
“They became instant best friends,” Routh told The Dodo. “It really couldn’t have worked out any better than it did.”
With a doting mom and an awesome big sister by her side, Ember is feeling happier than ever. She’s beyond grateful to have found her dream family, and her mom feels the exact same way.
“She has been the perfect addition to my life!” Routh said.