Y’all know by now that I love a good dog story, especially ones about hero and/or rescue pooches getting their flowers after hardship. So meet Chester, a five-year-old pit bull mix that a shelter in Ohio saved from an abandoned building almost two years ago. Chester recovered at the shelter, regaining a healthy amount of weight along with re-earned trust in the human species. Through no fault of his own, it ended up taking 587 days for Chester to be adopted, so the shelter arranged to send him off with a bang. Chester trotted out the front door to greet two lines of people gathered to wish him well and take pictures, and then the VIP (Very Important Puppy) hopped into a limo to ride like a BOSS to his new forever home. Warning: the excerpt below includes some graphic descriptions of the traumatic condition Chester was found in.

Chester rides again: Chester left the Euclid Animal Shelter in a limousine surrounded by supporters and friends, Kyrie Brickman, the shelter’s kennel manager, told USA TODAY. “Chester definitely stole the hearts of everybody,” Brickman said. “There’s so many dogs like Chester out there that don’t end up getting the attention or the send-off… I think stories like Chester’s, they’re just little things you can have to hold on to. They’re little beacons of hope.” Chester came to the Euclid Animal Shelter Aug. 10, 2022, so it took him 587 days to be adopted, according to Brickman.

A bittersweet farewell: Brickman called the moment Chester left the shelter “absolutely, completely bittersweet” because she and the staff grew “such a bond” with the 5-year-old dog. “Everybody has over the time that he was here, but there is nothing more beautiful and more heartwarming than to see this really deserving dog get a home that is better than anything we could have ever expected,” Brickman said. Lauren Reitsman, Chester’s new “dog mama,” told USA TODAY she “always likes to root for underdogs,” so seeing Chester’s story tugged on her heartstrings.

Chester was in dire straits when he was found: Chester was found by Euclid police’s animal control officers who received a call about dogs left in an abandoned home, Brickman said. “The house was absolutely disgusting,” the kennel manager said. … When animal control found Chester, they noticed his paw was caught in a prong collar with a chain so short that the dog couldn’t even lie down, according to Brickman. “(Chester) was there for at least a week, that we know of,” she said. “It was likely a little bit longer.” Once freed, Chester took a couple of steps and then collapsed due to him being so malnourished, Brickman said. Animal control had to carry him out of the home, she added. Chester was heartworm positive, he had mange and was “definitely emaciated,” Brickman said. Chester weighed 25 pounds at the time, but a dog his size should have been at least 60 pounds, she said.

How his new mama fell in love: Chester is Reitsman’s first dog, and after closing on a new home Feb. 22, she’s now sharing her king-sized bed with a four-legged prince. “I woke up on the very edge of the bed,” Reitsman said about waking up with Chester on Tuesday morning. “But that was OK because he slept really well last night.” … Chester came into the picture when Reitsman’s friend tagged her in a video on Facebook showing the pit bull mix’s story. … Reitsman said seeing Chester having a “rough start” and “basically on the brink of death” made her consider adopting him. Then, when she saw Chester’s face, she “fell in love.”

You complete me! “He’s got that big smile and those big floppy ears,” she said. “He’s just got the greatest disposition.” Chester’s “warm personality” and mild temperament make it easy to be his mom, according to Reitsman. “I just feel like he kind of completes my life,” she said. Chester enjoyed his first night at Reitsman’s home eating meatballs, taking naps and snorting and farting peacefully on the couch, his new mom said.

[From USA Today]

I’m not crying, you are! And if you want to sob yourself silly, they documented the send off on video. I really am just a hop, skip, and a jump away from becoming Molly Shannon in Year of the Dog, when she goes to the shelter and adopts ALL the dogs. This one hit close to home reminding me of how I met My Girl. Like Chester, My Girl was severely underweight when I got her, to the point where you could see every bone in her spine. For the first month she barely opened her eyes; it took two weeks of antibiotic drops until the discharge went away and she opened those beautiful peepers. And she showed signs of PTSD, but with patience, snuggles, and two queens sharing a queen-sized bed, we made it through. May we all find our loving homes where we can eat meatballs, take naps, and peacefully snort and fart on the couch.

Photos credit Euclid Animal Shelter via Facebook