They said he was a guard dog. Not sure how a dog can guard anything if they’re locked up in a cage without water and surrounded by the frigid snow, but that’s how Abby and Cliff found Wally nonetheless.
The poor fuzzy bear of a dog was super skinny and looked sad and neglected in his cage near The Great Wall of China.
Abby and Cliff couldn’t stand to see the sweet dog in such awful conditions, so they reached out to the folks at Bunny’s Buddies.
“Cliff and I look at each other and we were like we have to apply,” Abby told The Dodo.
Bunny’s Buddies is a group that rescues dogs from slaughterhouses, kill shelters, and streets in China and South Korea and finds them homes in the U.S.
Thanks to the organization’s help, they were able to rescue Wally and bring him home to Abby and Cliff. He was filthy and matted, so he had to be shaved down and given a good bath, but he was ready to fly home to the U.S. in January 2020.
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“The first time, I think, he ever experienced a soft bed or a carpet was here,” said Craig. “He was just the happiest little guy ever.”
The thing is, Wally, who is named Wally because he was found near The Great Wall, isn’t little at all.
The Tibetan Mastiff weighed just 65 to 75 pounds when he was first rescued, but now he’s a healthy 135-pound goofy guy. According to Pawlicy Advisor, this dog breed should weigh between 70 and 150 lbs as an adult.
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“It was really fun to watch him transform like a butterfly just from this caterpillar to this beautiful Wally he is,” said Abby. “He’s so funny, the most beautiful dog I’ve ever seen. He just brings us so much joy he makes us smile.”
A few months after Wally’s rescue, Abby and Cliff found out they were having a baby girl.
Wally was super curious and excited when they finally brought his new sister home.
He must have known that they would be BBFs because they absolutely love each other.
“He just seemed to pick up quickly they she is a new part of the family and ‘I got to take care of her,'” Abby said. “He doesn’t really lick anyone, but he’ll go over to her and sniff the back of her head or lick her hands.”
Their daughter gets so excited when Wally jumps up into her parents’ bed in the morning.
“Whenever she sees him she will squeal. So, it was fun!” Abby said. “She’ll climb all over him. She started eating solid food and I think that’s just taken the relationship even deeper.”
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Wally likes to set himself up underneath his sister’s high chair so that he can gobble up any dropped pieces of food.
His sister also likes to share with him and feeds him directly from her plate.
She also likes to give him smooches. Wally has decided that he is his sister’s protector and likes to follow her around and make sure she’s safe.
“They’re buddies, and he just felt more complete and felt like he had someone he really needed to protect, and that’s her,” Cliff said.
You can learn more about this sweet story in the video below, and check out Wally’s adventures on his Instagram page @babywallybear.
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