Love Finds a Way to Work the Impossible
A Minneapolis woman came home one Friday to discover two unfamiliar pit bulls in her home. Deciding to let them stay over the weekend, she took the pair to the local shelter the following Monday. What happened next is truly remarkable - and guaranteed to warm your heart.
Analysis by Dr. Karen Shaw Becker
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STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Two stray female pit bulls spent a weekend this past May with a kindhearted woman who came home to find them in her house
- Their next stop on Monday was the local shelter, where the dogs eventually made it to adoption row and were housed in kennels next door to each other
- The younger, more confident dog, Brenda, was having none of it and scaled the concrete wall between the enclosures to rejoin her BFF, Linda
- After viewing security footage of Brenda’s astonishing determination to be with her friend, the shelter moved the dogs together into a larger enclosure; video and news articles of their availability for adoption included the hope that Brenda and Linda could remain together
- The human kindness continued into Tuesday when a couple who had just lost their dog paid a visit to the shelter and quickly decided to adopt both dogs
On a Friday in May this year, a Minneapolis woman made the surprising discovery of two unfamiliar pit bulls in her home. She decided to keep them over the weekend and take them to a shelter on Monday, May 22nd. During their two-day stay at the kind woman’s home, she noticed the dogs seemed to have an exceptionally close bond.
Monday rolled around, and the woman dropped off the dogs at the Friends of Minneapolis Animal Care & Control Shelter.
Love Finds a Way
Shelter workers guessed the age of the brown dog, Brenda, to be about 4, and the white dog, Linda, to be around 7. Pending a veterinary exam, the dogs were placed in the shelter’s restricted area to ensure they were both healthy enough to join the general population.
Madison Weissenborn, volunteer coordinator at the shelter, reported that Brenda appeared to be the more confident and outgoing of the two, while Linda needed more time to feel safe in her new environment. Brenda was moved to the adoption area first, soon followed by Linda. The staff decided to house them next door to each other in enclosures separated by a high concrete wall. Here's what happened next:
As you can see in the video, Brenda jumps up the wall of her enclosure and uses her paws to pull herself over to join her BFF Linda next door. The girls were quite excited to be reunited.
“Once we moved them up to the adoption floor, we were able to find two kennels next to each other,” Weissenborn told USA Today. “Within minutes, (Brenda) was like ‘There's my girl’ and jumped over.”1
Together Again
Brenda’s jailbreak wasn’t noticed until a bit later in the day when Weissenborn and a coworker were walking through the kennel area offering treats. As they approached Linda’s enclosure, both dogs were waiting at the fence for their snacks. They thought maybe someone had put the dogs in the same kennel by mistake, until they checked the security camera footage and witnessed Brenda’s determination to be with her friend.
“This is going to brighten everyone's day,” Weissenborn thought before sharing the clip with volunteers and eventually online.
The staff decided to move Brenda and Linda to a bigger kennel where they could be roomies until they were adopted. This arrangement isn’t the norm, since typically dogs get their own space. The girls played together non-stop.
“You can just see them frolicking together, so we were like ‘Alright, they're so happy and we can't separate them,’” Weissenborn said.
Together Forever
Weissenborn posted the video of Brenda’s Parkour skills with the goal of not only announcing the dogs were up for adoption, but also that they were a bonded pair who clearly didn't want to be separated.
“Pitties are notorious for having the zoomies and being active and sweet little things, so we just were worried that somebody might not be able to commit to two,” Weissenborn said. “[But] the first thing on Tuesday morning, somebody was here for them.”
Fortunately, the video and news articles that followed had the intended effect. A local Minneapolis couple who had recently lost their own beloved dog to cancer, and weren’t even sure they wanted another dog, saw the video of Brenda’s determination to be with Linda, and decided to go to the shelter just for a visit. Minutes after their arrival, they were convinced the girls should stay together, and adopted them both.
“It was truly like love at first sight,” Weissenborn said. “Brenda went right up to the female and Linda went right up to the male and they were like ‘Alright … package them up. Let’s go.’ It was meant to be.”
Right after their adoption, the shelter announced the good news online, calling Brenda’s and Linda’s journey “Mission Impawsible.”
Sources and References
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