Couple Adopts a ‘Dog’ From Shady Shelter, Realizes It’s Not a Dog at All but Wholesomely Decides to Keep It Anyway

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Aug 22, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

It is not every day that people make the decision to adopt a dog. And that is especially true for people who already had a dog and lost it. Deciding to get another one, deciding to open up your heart again after such a loss… it's not easy. But so many dogs need homes, and so many great people can give them those homes. So when you finally do it, when you finally adopt again, you would want everything to go pawfectly, without issues, without drama. 

Well, that's not what happened here. In this story, everything seemingly went wrong at first. Although, maybe this couple should have realized that adopting a 'dog' from such a shady shelter might not be the best of ideas. But what could go wrong? It's just a dog, right? Wrong. Still, although everything kind of went wrong at first… this couple was just too kind and great, and for everyone involved, things turned out so wholesome. 

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  • 01
    gallusrostromegalus Follow Mom Adopts a "Dog" So y'all keep blowing up my notes with the various Family Lore stories I've been telling, so l guess I should tell one on my parents now.
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    Let us tell you… this is one of the coolest stories that we have ever come across, and we read it start to finish every time that it comes across our timelines. Because it's just that good. It's that wholesome and chaotic and ridiculous and lovely. This 'dog' and its family is everything to us. 

  • 02
    My Mother's Father was part of the United Auto Worker's Union, and during the 50's and 60's, was on strike a lot. My point is, grandpa got himself an entirely deserved reputation for being a sucker who loved animals, so people would dump thier pets on him. Hence, my mother grew up in a house with pets such as Picket the one-eyed tomcat, Tweety the Bald canary, Dummy the cat, Stupid Son of Dummy, Spooky Garbage Dog and Chiquita the Tarantula. Eventually Grandma put her foot down when Grandpa brou
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    This story could have gone in so many different ways, but instead, it ended up being the perfect recipe of timing, lovely people, and cuteness. We're obsessed, and we beg you guys - if you know of more stories like these, send them to us. We would absolutely love to read them. 

  • 03
    I say all this because it provides some context for how the following occured.
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  • 04
    Mom and Dad had just moved in together (my parents dated for six years and were engaged for 13 days, driving everyone on both sides insane), and unfortunately, My mother's German Shepherd, Cops, has just passed away due to bone cancer. After mourning for a bit, Mom and Dad decided to get a dog together, as a couple.
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  • 05
    So they go to the Palo Alto Animal shelter to adopt. The year was 1987, and at the time, Palo Alto was... not a great place. Lots of drugs, gangs and poor civic managment. Mom told me that she learned to identify different types of gunfire while living there. They get there, and mom explains that she's always had a preference for Big Dogs, and the guy's face lights up. Oh Yes, he says, We have a Big Dog. For expirienced owners, yep, adoptable today, here we'll give you a discount even-
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  • 06
    Somehow my parents were not suspicious about this.
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  • 07
    They were shown to the Animal in question, a Gorgeous blue-sable beastie with pretty golden eyes who immediately pressed herself against the fence and gave them the best PUH-LEEEEEEASE TAKE ME HOME puppy eyes 100lbs of canine can do. Mom and Dad fall in love instantly. They sign all the paperwork and take her home for $10, and name her "Mazel" as in "Mazel Tov."
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  • 08
    Within the hour, it becomes clear that something is amiss.
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  • 09
    Cops had lived with his kibble stored in a plastic garbage can in the garage for six years without incident. Mazel figured out how to open doors and got the locking lid off the can in six minutes, horking down about four pounds of the stuff before my mother notices that it's been weirdly quiet. Most dogs bark at or chase squirrels. Mazel stalked and caught one the second day, presenting it to my mother like an offering. Mazel knew all her commands but would clearly stop to consider before obeyin
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  • 10
    After a week of gradually realizing that Mazel was smarter than most of the professors my mom worked with, they took her to the Vet for a routine checkup.
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  • 11
    Dr. Hamada walked into the exam room, dropped the clip-board and said "Where the did you get a Wolf?"
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  • 12
    After a bit of prodding and a very-angry-dr.hamada-calling-the-pound, they determined Mazel was a high-content hybrid, probably with a husky, but was going to be a lil I her entire life. OK, said Hamada, I don't like destroying animals and you've got a lot of expirience with dogs, so I'm okay with letting you keep her, but you should keep her away from small children because her Prey Drive could kick in. Two years later, mom got pregnant with me.
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  • 13
    Mazel noticed instantly, and reacted by digging a large hole in the yard and catching even more squirrels for mom, because she needed the protein or something. That what you do when the Alpha is preggers, right? Dig a den and ply her with food? On the advice of my grandmother, my mom stayed overnight at the hospital once I was delivered, and dad went home with a shirt that had moms and my scent on it. Mazel spent the whole night puzzling over it.
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  • 14
    The next morning, when mom came home with me, there was the sudden and instantaneous recognition of PUPPY!!!!!! :D:D:D!!!!! PUUUUUUUPPY!!!!!!! and Mazel turned into the most aggressively maternal being I've ever met. Playing with me on the blanket, sitting under my chair at meals (I was a messy eater), sleeping under my crib, teaching me to walk by letting me hang onto her fur and shuffle around.
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  • 15
    Dr. Hamada thought mom was a madwoman, until he saw me holding Mazel's mouth open and sticking my face in so i could look at her teeth. He gave up when my mom announced she was pregnant with my sister.
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  • 16
    I'm making living with a Wolfdog sound awesome, but it did come with some drawbacks: Mazel did have to be muzzled at the vets, because she had Opinions about having things stuck up her butt.
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  • 17
    HAIR. One of my chores growing up was to brush her out every week and I'd frequently end up with more hair than animal. the only way we could reliably get her to stay in the yard was with an overhead tether with a STEEL cable, which she chewed through anyway.
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  • 18
    Do you like waking up by being hit in the face with half a dead animal? No? Wolfdogs may not be for you. More than capable of opening the fridge and eating everything if you're not watching Will get into everything if not otherwise occupied. Including eating your tax forms. Howls along with sirens at 4 AM.
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  • 19
    PROS of growing up with a wolfdog, as a small child in the 90's I was afforded a degree of freedom normally associated with a pokemon trianer. It was no big deal for me and my sister to walk three miles through my not-really-good neighborhood to the Froyo if I took Mazel with us. People tended to leave us alone when we had 100lbs of overprotective Apex Predator following us around.
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  • 20
    WINNING at Pet Day at school. There wasn't actually a compettion but Billy's hamster sucks in comparison to an animal that is perfectly willing to demonstrate how she can snap an oak branch in half on command. because Mazel PTA moms losing their would walk down the block by herself to come pick ups up from school.
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  • 21
    Grew up associating the word " "with teeth and the willingness to rip an asshole's face off for being rude. Never changed the definition. Learned the I-Own-This Strut and Murder-Stare from the absolute best.
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  • 22
    When she was 17, Mom and Dad decided to add another room on to the house. They rigged up the overhead tether so she could be outside but not underfoot for the contruction guys. One morning, mom came out to notice them all milling in the side yard entrance, muttering worriedly. When mom asked what was wrong, one of them explained that Carlos forgot to bring the Hamburger. What do you need a hamburger for? Asked mom, and they pointed down the side yard to where Mazel was sitting, doing her best Vi
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  • 23
    Apparently they'd never realized that she was on the VERY end of her tether there and couldn't actually get to them, and had been scamming them for a big mac a day for a month. Mom had my six-year-old sister pull her away to show she wasn't dangerous and tired her best not to laugh but kind of failed.
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  • 24
    Mazel ended up living to be 19 and a half, and except for some minor arthritis, remarkably hale until the day she passed away in her hole in the back yard while taking a nap. I maintain that Death had to wait until she was sleeping to get a crack at her, or she would've taken his scythe for a chew toy. 86.7K notes on
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