Puppy abandoned during playdate by runaway pawrent, resulting in host family foster fail that turned into heartwarming adoption of the playful mastiff, new dog mom says: ‘Benson, is the first pup who is ALL about my fiancé.’

Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor

Mar 9, 2026 2:00 PM EDT

You never know when someone is going to lose their mind and ditch their dog at your house in the middle of a playdate, you just have to be mentally prepared that it might happen. At least that was the case for our story's protagonist during the last pupper playdate she hosted.

Now, in a certain sense we cannot complain about the actions of this pawrent too much seeing as there are people who dump dogs in deserts in the middle of nowhere, never to be found. But still, it is dang cruel to just up and leave your dog in the care of a relative stranger. In doing so, not only abandoning the poor puppy and giving it separation anxiety, but also lumbering another person with the responsibility that was supposed to be yours.

Even if it is the case that the other person is someone who cares for dogs and will do whatever is necessary to support them. And that is how our peculiar tale of canine adoption began, not with a roadside discovery, but with a pawrent who claimed to be going to use the bathroom, but ended up using their keys to drive away.

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Wow, that is some pretty heartbreaking stuff. It is not all too different to doing this to a hooman child. Only that the poor doggo can probably still smell the scent of his runaway pawrent who is nowhere to be found. It is sad, but some people seem totally healthy and normal on the surface, but underneath they are fighting great battles, the kind of which we hope to never come up against. Sometimes resulting in such rash and irrational acts as ditching your dog in the middle of a playdate and disappearing. We can only hope the pupper managed to keep on playing for a while before realizing what had happened.
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Brown Mastiff puppy running with tongue out in a garden
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Well, this is certainly an interesting development. Theft usually involved stealing things of grand value, the kind that would make it possible to make some money. But a bottle of bubbly has a much different meaning behind it, suggesting that this woman might have had some sort of tough relationship with the devil’s nectar. Potentially explaining her rash and out of sorts behavior, not excusing it, but at least giving some sort of rational reason for someone to behave so irrationally. We cannot imagine what has been going through this poor puppy’s mind as he is subjected to all the confusion and chaos going on around him.
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Gray Mastiff sitting in dry grass field
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Black Mastiff puppy standing on astroturf
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