When some take a glance at Dennis the dog, they might see a strange, quirky dog.
And that may be true of Dennis.
But Dennis is also someone whose friendship helped a man learn how to love, and in turn, changed his entire worldview for the better.
When Drew first met Dennis he was taken by the sound of the dog’s barks.
“He sounds like a seal and a pig who like somehow ended up as a dog,” Drew said.
When Drew went to the shelter he had initially planned to adopt a different dog. But when he got there, he learned that the dog he had chosen had been adopted by another family.
That’s when he came across Dennis, who was happily jumping up and down and grunting in his weird dog/seal/pig voice.
“I was like, what is this dog? He’s so odd,” Drew told The Dodo.
The American Kennel Club reports that different dogs use different sounds other than barking to express themselves.
“Deciphering dog sounds is not as complicated as it seems, as pitch, tone, and body language often offer clues,” their website says. “Noises like howling, singing, screaming, and snorting help dogs to communicate their needs with you.”
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Dennis is quite the chatterbox, and Drew was hooked.
But there was just one problem.
Dennis had already been promised to another family. Still Drew somehow begged the shelter to let him have Dennis for a little while until his new family was ready to pick him up so the dog didn’t have to sit and wait in the shelter.
They warned Drew that he would become attached and then heartbroken when they had to leave one another.
Drew didn’t care and decided he was going to make the best of his time with Dennis.
The two started going to the beach together and Dennis began to figure out when they were close and would start his seal talk in excitement. They would chat the whole way to the beach.
Dennis and Drew bonded right away, so Drew was deeply upset when it was time to give Drew back.
He begged the adoption agency to convince Dennis’ adopters to let him have Dennis.
After they saw some pictures and videos of Dennis and Drew’s adventures, they decided to let Drew have the dog.
Now, they are buddies for life.
Drew was somehow unaware of the fact that dogs can totally understand you and communicate and was surprised by how many words Dennis understood. He’s even learned that Dennis loves to sing.
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Now, these two are the bestest of friends and very happy together.
Drew said that Dennis has taught him a lot and changed his life for the better.
“Before I had him, this sounds so cheesy but I’m just going to say it, I don’t think I knew how to, like, love properly. I didn’t know what it was,” said Dennis. “He taught me like what real actual love and friendship means. I don’t know how to say this, but I used to be, obviously a lot more selfish. Everything was about me. I just used to care about thing that, in hindsight, weren’t important at all. The things that are important are really like, bonding, spending quality time. He’s changed the way I view the world really.”
Learn more about Drew and Dennis’ friendship in the video below.
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