It’s heartbreaking to walk down the hallway of an animal shelter and see the forlorn, despondent dogs whose nervousness and sadness tug at your heartstrings.

Some of the pups were abandoned by their families, kicked out of their homes for whatever reason. Others were relinquished because an owner moved or passed away.

[/imgsrc] Flickr/steve @ the alligator farm

Some simply are no longer wanted.

The longer a pupper remains at a shelter, the harder it is to be adopted. Their personalities change and they become truly hopeless no matter how hard the shelter staff fight to keep their spirits up.

According to Dr. Alexandra Protopopova, a professor at Texas Tech University, shared with BarkPort that there are some specific behaviors that play a role in the amount of time a dog will spend in the shelter before adoption.

“When looking for a potential dog to adopt, first impressions are crucial. When it comes to factors that increase a dog’s length of stay in a shelter, (there are) four major behaviors: rubbing their body against the kennel wall increased the dog’s median length of stay by 30 days, pacing increased it by 24 days, facing away from the front of the kennel increased it by 15 days, and standing increased it by seven days.”

Merrick arrived at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City as a pup. There he remained for an exceptionally long five years.

In fact, he has the longest shelter stay of any pet there.

The shelter staff did everything they could to get him adopted. They paid for a billboard. They launched a massive social media campaign. But no response.

Five years later, Merrick’s future owner waltzed through the door. Jordan Nussbaum instantly was head over heels.

“It was love at first sight. What they wanted was someone without kids who had a lot of energy to keep up with him because he’s a large dog. But he’s still a puppy. It just seems like I was destined to be with him.”

Merrick’s story is heartbreaking. He was discarded like a piece of garbage at a stranger’s garage sale. He had a huge abscess looming on the side of his face that would need surgery.

But the shelter staff never gave up on him and his future. When Merrick finally took his victory walk out the front doors of the shelter with his family, they had to share it on Facebook.

“Merrick found his perfect match—his new mom and dad, Jordan and Amy, are everything he has wished for and more! We could not be more happy, excited, proud, or thankful to everyone who shared his story.”

The shelter held a huge celebration as they bid Merrick farewell. This boy definitely deserved it!

Watch in the video below how happy he is to finally have someone to love and love him as he strolls out of the shelter, excited about his brand new family and the future that awaited him. He seems to be beaming!

Merrick enthusiastically leaps into the back seat and plunges his head between the front seat just to say hi to his loved ones. How adorable!