In heartwarming twist of fate couple accidentally adopted ex-roommate’s neglected dog who they loved, several years after roommate moved out, says: ‘My wife calls Patty over by name and holds her while crying and said "I was so worried about you".’

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jul 23, 2026 6:45 PM EDT

Most of the time when a doggo is adopted it takes time and effort for the pupper and pawrents to become acquainted. But in this story they had already met, in an earlier and far tougher chapter of life when they had no other option than to be there for each other.

Reddit's r/DOG subreddit has a whole host of canine related stories but this one stood out to us amongst the rest as it tells one of the wildest tales of doggo adoption we have ever heard off. Often a dog adoption story starts with a visit to the shelter, where a couple can interact with several abandoned and dumped doggos until they find their pawfect match. And while this story sort of started that way, the prequel to the story is something utterly unexpect and something we have never heard off.

For when the female partner of this couple suddenly got the urge to bring a darling doggo into their life, neither her or her partner could have ever imagined that the dog that would steal their heart would be a dog that they knew very well and had spent a lot of time helping in the past. However, neither of them had any idea this was the case until a quiet moment on the couch once they got home. Long, long after having chosen and adopted the doggo. 
 

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  • 01
    WI ask my wife didn't Patty have a weird skin tag too? She looked at the angel in my lap and said "Patty" and her ears perked up and looked at her.
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    Black dog lying on half dry grass wearing blue yellow and white sweater 

    Dog represented by model

  • 02
    Bit of a long story but everyone we have told has loved it. This is the story how we got our sweet baby Patty (Patty Melt). Several years ago, me and my wife decided to help a friend and let her be our roommate. Not long after
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  • 03
    she moved in her boyfriend moved in too. I was hesitant about 1 roommate let alone 2 and one of them was a complete stranger but my wife talked me into it. (Big mistake). A couple
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  • 04
    weeks in our roommate adopted a dog a black and white lab pit mix with a large skin tag on her chest named Patty Melt. I was not happy about it but let it go after I realized how sweet and unproblematic of a sweetheart she was. my
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    only problem with her was the constant need of petting. It was a full house 4 people and a medium size dog in a 2bed 1 bath apartment. Unfortunately Patty wasn't taken care of well by our roommates,
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    they would leave her locked in the dark room and hurt her when she pottied inside, she would hold her pe in so long she often had UTIs (according to my wife. I am no vet) they
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  • Oof, how can you be so cruel to a dog that you yourself have given the sweetest name in the world to? Patty melt, the only dog who can melt your heart by hearing its name. Such a name you would think signifies a deep and emotional connection. One that would result in lots of love and dedication. But as it seems there is neither love nor dedication in this story and thankfully this couple were there to pick up the pieces and keep this poor pupper from losing her life and her mind. 
     

  • 07
    would forget to feed her leaving us to feed her, was hardly ever allowed outside. In the end we had a fallout with the roommates and they involuntarily left and took Patty with them. They told us they found an actual
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    Cheezburger Image 10647847680
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  • 09
    house to rent instead of an apartment. 2 years later, my wife was having puppy fever and I took us to a pound to see and play with some of them. I was determined "we are NOT getting a dog right now" (I
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  • 10
    felt it would interfere with our current life plans) we looked at all the dogs and the one in particular we were there to see was pretty aggressive so we decided to play with another one the pound
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    named "Bella" black and white lab pit mix with a large skin tag on her chest she was so sweet and excited jumping on my wife and my wife's heart melted when Bella smiled at her. I for some reason cannot say no to my wife so we go and ask about her. They found
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    Bella abandoned in a house nearly starved. We paid the adoption fee and I wanted to change her name to Lilly and she went to the vet to get spayed before we could bring her home. Turns out
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  • Yeah, it is exactly what you are thinking. How insane is this moment? To go from having absolutely nothing, abandoned in the home her negligent pawrents moved her to. To then having the universe bring the only people who ever showed her love back into her life. That is some seriously special stuff right there and we cannot imagine just how happy and wholesome their lives going forward would be. Sometimes the universe or the doggo distribution system if you will, enjoys playing the long game and will do some rather surprising things if you can wait long enough. 
     

  • 13
    she was already spayed so we picked her up and took her home. Happiest dog in the world. The next day she was sitting in my lap getting all the pets and ik it's weird but I was playing with her skin tag. I ask
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  • 14
    my wife "didn't Patty have a weird skin tag too?" She said yes she did, then she pulled her phone out and looked at a picture she had of Patty. She looked at the angel in my lap and said "Patty" and her ears perked up and looked at her. My
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    wife bursts into tears gets on the ground and calls Patty over by name and hold her and crying says "I was so worried about you". We changed her name back to Patty, called the pound where our roommate
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  • 17
    originally got her and got all her medical papers and informed them what happened. She's been with us for 2 years now happy and healthy and a big bed hog.
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  • 18
    Don't judge us too hard for not realizing sooner, some people we told gave us some sass about not recognizing her on the spot which I think is ridiculous because we weren't expecting to ever see her
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    Cheezburger Image 10647848192
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    again let alone in a pound plus she was half the size she was before (She went from 80-90lbs to 30-40 pure skin and bones). I've seen Paul Rudd a thousand
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  • 21
    times on TV but I would never expect him to be in my towns Walmart I'd walk right past him and have no idea.
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heartwarming story twist dogs fate heartwarming accident reddit story years adopted love neglect dog story move out roommates couple
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