When Blue Dozer and OJ’s owner became homeless, she had no choice but to surrender them to a shelter.
Blue Dozer is a six-year-old pit bull, and OJ is a 12-year-old dachshund who is also blind. From the moment they arrived at Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC), it was clear that they were best friends. Their owner made it clear to the staff that they absolutely had to stay together.
“She said they had been living in her car for a while and she had been through some other personal things recently,” Christie Chipps Peters, director of RACC, told The Dodo. “All she wanted was to find them a new home together.”
Not only had the two dogs been best friends for the past four years, but Blue was also OJ’s seeing-eye dog.
OJ wasn’t exactly a young puppy anymore, and he had gone almost completely blind, he basically only sees blurs and shadows. Blue is the one that helps guide his best buddy around, and he absolutely loves doing it.
The shelter staff was a bit anxious at first about having the pair adapt to their new, unfamiliar surroundings, but it wasn’t long before they settled right in. The staff could tell that they were completely inseparable in the most adorable way. Their worries faded away and were confident that they’d find a forever home in no time.
“We don’t see a combination like this very often,” Christie laughed. “It’s so comical and sweet. Blue is like this super tough muscular guy, then OJ is a teeny tiny dachshund. Seeing them together is super cute.”
Watching the sweet dogs play and interact, the staff could see just how dependent they were on each other. Even when they were let outside to play, Blue never left OJs side.
“They’ve been pals for at least four years, so they have this understanding of sticking by each other,” Christie said. “When we’d go outside, it was like OJ was Blue’s little shadow.”
Just two days after being at the shelter, a family that lives two hours away from the shelter expressed interest in the adorable pair and drove down to meet them. As soon as they were all together, it was like they were meant to be family. They all hit it off and soon, the adoption papers were signed.
Unbelievably, after going home with their new owners, scared little OJ was found wandering the streets by himself. They believe he was dumped by the person that just adopted him.
Thankfully, a man driving down the highway spotted OJ, swooped him up, and brought him to the Shenandoah Valley Animal Services Center. His microchip led him back to the RACC where they were shocked to hear about finding OJ.
The RACC staff immediately sought out to find the adopters and get Blue back as well. She eventually agreed to surrender him, and now both dogs are back with the shelter.
Even though the shelter had done a screening of the adopter, there are still unfortunate cases where the adoptive person or family isn’t fully truthful, or they simply don’t hold to their rescue agreements.
The staff is just grateful that they were able to reunite the best friends and know that they are safe.
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“We very much appreciate the outpouring of community support,” RACC said. “The only thing that matters is these sweet dogs get to stay together — and in the end that’s what we have … We will not be doing anything with OJ and Blue Dozer in the next few days other than snuggling them together.”
Do you think you could be Blue Dozer and OJ’s forever family? Head to the RACC website to fill out an adoption application.
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