Chip was a 7-week-old puppy in need of a loving forever family when he arrived at an animal shelter. And then for the next 15 years, he waited.
Chip, a little gray dog, had spent almost his entire life at the Save-a-Pet Shelter in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, until Thursday, when he was finally able to go home with his own dad.
“Chip has NEVER had a home, NEVER had a family to love and cherish him, NEVER had someone to play with him or take him for walks, NEVER had a warm bed to sleep in or a human to cuddle up to,” one of Chip’s fans wrote earlier this week.
Finally, Chip will have everything a dog could want. The shelter posted a triumphant adoption portrait of Chip and his new dad, Jaco Rademeyer, about to take the little dog to his very first home on Thursday afternoon.
Chip has some medical issues, so he may not have many years left to spend with his new family, but he’ll finally have all the comfort and love he craves. While animal shelters do wonderful things to help the most vulnerable pets, there is no substitute for the love and connection that animals can have with their human family. And now Chip will get a taste of what that’s like.
