The MuttShack Animal Rescue in Burbank, California is dedicated to helping dogs in low-income neighborhoods.
They aren’t interested in taking pets away from their owners if they’re not mistreated – they merely want to help pets get the veterinary care they need.
On their website, they claim that of the 23 million pets that live in poverty with their families in America, only 80% ever receive medical care from a vet – and a whopping 91% are not spayed or neutered!
As you might imagine, this leads to a lot of puppies those families can not take care of. MuttShack also offers to rescue and rehome those puppies.
The shelters are overcrowded, so the organization wants to raise the puppies to be healthy and properly socialized in their no-kill facility.
Sometimes that means dogs that might not normally get to know each other get a chance to meet!
And back in 2014, two of their residents became unlikely friends (if just for a moment) – and their sweet meeting went viral due to the sheer size difference between the pair.
We’re unclear on the small chihuahua’s name, only that it appears to have gotten out amongst a group of larger dogs. (Perhaps that was intentional though since the pup struts out with all the confidence of a dog 10 times its size.)
Of all the dogs that come out to take a look at the little rascal, a Great Dane named Sasha is the most curious.
Another dog approaches first but reconsiders the idea almost immediately.
Still, it was a nice, friendly “welcome.”
It’s when the new kid in town sees another, even bigger dog that it begins to look unsure of its situation.
It begins to walk away as soon as it sees legs around it that go up and up and up.
The pup is in this photo, it’s just hidden behind a leg!
The two strangers inspect each other for a moment at the Great Dane’s insistence, but the little dog keeps prancing away.
There’s no butt to be sniffed for him! He’s going to need a lift!
Of course, it takes only one step for Sasha to head the chihuahua off and turn things around so she can get in some more sniffs in.
There’s nothing antagonistic going on, it’s just that Sasha is taking advantage of her size to, well…size up the newbie.
The little dog doesn’t make any noises that would tell us it feels threatened – and there are humans nearby, so it largely plays along.
Then, in a hilarious moment, the original dog comes back into the picture.
It has a toy in its mouth, which is a super sweet gesture. We imagine it’s trying to make the new, little resident feel welcome by bringing an offering.
But the dog has to immediately reconsider once it goes to drop the toy and realizes it’s bigger than the chihuahua!
So much for playtime!
But then the real excitement happens and we see that all dogs really do have something in common.
A squirrel is spotted!
Everyone goes racing off as the video fades in on the woods (and the squirrel that no doubt got away after getting quite a head start).
People in the comments on MuttShack’s YouTube video suspected that Sasha wasn’t sure it was even a dog she was seeing at first, but if the rescue’s blog is anything to go by, the sweet, laid back Dane just likes her friends little.
Here she is with a puppy named Gus that she helped nurse back to health in 2014.
Since MuttShack hasn’t updated their social media or website in quite some time, you probably want to avoid making any donations to them until you call and confirm they are still operating under their original mission and as a non-profit.
But there are undoubtedly similar shelters in your region with equally sweet stories!
Why not look them up and check them out if you’re in need of a little extra company during the pandemic?
In the meantime, be sure to scroll down below to see Sasha and her little pal’s first meeting.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
