One day at a park in Bakersfield, California, a sweet dog was pushed out of a car and abandoned. Before her family drove away, leaving her behind, they tossed her her favorite stuffed monkey out with her. Passersby watched it happen, heartbroken for the sweet dog and her stuffed companion.
“When the rescuers came, she didn’t care about food,” Theron Marbury of South Coast Humane Society (SCHS) wrote on Facebook. “She cared about her monkey, and that’s why we call her Monkey.”
Monkey ended up at an overcrowded shelter and was soon pulled by SCHS, along with another pup named Jasper. Her stuffed monkey stayed by her side the entire time.
Despite everything she’d been through, Monkey was in good spirits when she arrived at SCHS. Whoever dumped her had at least known she wouldn’t be OK without her stuffed friend, who seemed to give her the courage to begin again.
“Monkey was sweet and energetic when she arrived and co-kenneled with Jasper,” Jenifer Alcorn, executive director of SCHS, told The Dodo.
Monkey’s story touched her rescuers hearts, so they posted photos of her with her stuffed monkey on South Coast Humane – The Real One Facebook page so others could hear her story, too, and everyone who saw the post immediately fell in love with her. Monkey got so many adoption inquiries shortly after that, but one family stood out the most.
“They [knew] the breed and had room for her to run and live her best life,” Alcorn said. “They came and met her … and fell in love. At the risk of looking a gift horse in the mouth, I asked if they would meet her kennel mate, Jasper. They decided to take them both!”
Now, both Monkey and Jasper are home and living a wonderful life together. Monkey endured everything that came before to get to where she is now — and she couldn’t have done it without the comfort of her namesake, her beloved stuffed monkey.
