Dog Finally Finds Forever Home After 1,007 Days In Delaware Shelter

A five-year-old dog from the Humane Animal Partners (HAP) Delaware shelter finally found her forever home after staying at the shelter for over 1,000 days.

Tessy, a 5-five-year-old black Labrador mix, was finally adopted on Friday, October 20 by Jeanine Porter and Jeff Bush of Millsboro.

Before being adopted, the pooch was Humane Animal Partners’ longest resident and has spent a record 1,007 days at the no-kill shelter.

According to the Cape Gazette, Tessy’s new fur parents saw her photo at HAP’s adoption event at the Conley United Methodist Church Fall Festival and fell in love.

Bush revealed, “[When we met her] she was an adorable, sweet dog.” While Porter said, “Her story. Her smile. I’m going to cry. We’re going to call her ‘Tessy Boo Boo.’”

Tessy arrived at HAP nearly three years ago from a high-intake shelter in Texas where she was at risk of being put down.

HAP reveals that while Tessy spent most of her life in the shelter, “she is still a fun-loving girl.”

However, HAP’s Sussex County Director Leigh McKinley reveals to the Cape Gazette that Tessy had behavioral issues from the start.

“She could have been somewhere where she never had positive exposure to strangers. So, she put up her defense mechanisms, which for a dog, is going to be lunging, barking and snarling. That’s their way of telling somebody not to come any closer,” McKinley said.

But today, McKinley reveals that “Tessy is a much different dog than she was two years ago.” And this is all thanks to the HAP staff and McKinley who helped her overcome her fear of people and other animals.

HAP describes Tessy as a loyal and playful girl. She is eager to please and is very food-motivated.

The shelter also said, “Our staff often jokes that Tessy doesn’t just ‘like’ her people, she wholeheartedly loves you.”

Furthermore, this very good girl also knows almost a dozen of commands, including ‘sit’, ‘down’, ‘stay’, ‘drop-it’, ‘leave-it’, ‘heel’, ‘fetch’, ‘here’, ‘back-up’, ‘kennel’, and ‘touch’.

Tessy’s new fur parents were obviously very excited to get her home. Porter said, “[We got her] lots of toys, lots of treats. She needs a new purple pig.”

Porter and Bush were also briefed about Tessy’s behavioral cues and her medical plan.

It was a bittersweet goodbye between Tessy and the HAP staff. The Cape Gazette wrote, “They had spent the last nearly three years walking her, cleaning her kennel, feeding her, giving her belly rubs and getting her ready for this day.”

Porter assured everyone and said, “She’s going to be well loved. You don’t have to worry about her.”