Dog Waits Five Years to Be Adopted, One Picture Changes His Life

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Five years in a shelter and one viral Facebook picture later, Chester the Pittie is finally getting the love he deserves, thanks to the picture above.

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Once a stray dog, Chester has won the hearts of shelter volunteers and staff since he was found on the streets five years ago. Despite his huge smile and lovable personality, people tended to overlook him when visiting the shelter, and as time passed, hope for him dwindled.

That’s when Gabby Stroup, manager of the North Fork Animal Welfare League, made a Facebook page called “Chester: Waiting Five Years.” On it, she shared pictures of Chester in an attempt to get the word out about him. And it worked.

“It was crazy. I posted the original photo on the League’s Facebook page and by later that day there were over 6,000 shares,” Stroup said. “Someone suggested I make him his own page and I did, at about 3:30 p.m., and that evening there were close to 2,000 likes.”

For one family, Chester seemed to be the perfect fit. Dana Dor and her family visited Chester and knew they were meant to be together. And now Chester is happily loving his new life in his new home.

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“It was by far the most amazing thing I have ever seen – the amount of people who shared and called or emailed was amazing. This was one of the happiest days,” said Stroup about Chester’s adoption.

Now that Chester has made it out of the shelter, his Facebook page will be used for updates about other shelter pups who could use some exposure while waiting for some kind humans to come along and whisk them away to a happy life.

Highest of paws to the devoted shelter workers and volunteers who didn’t give up on Chester when he needed it most.

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