A dog that arrived at the shelter in heartbreaking circumstances could barely contain his delight after being given a second chance at life.
Porter the 4-year-old chocolate Labrador could not have looked more adorable as he posed for a picture at the Animal Protective Foundation of Schenectady, New York, alongside James Hathaway, his new human companion.
Hathaway is the president and CEO of the Vermont and Northeast New York chapters of the Make-A-Wish foundation; in his own special way, he made another wish come true when he agreed to adopt Porter and end his wait for a new forever home.
James Hathaway hugs his new dog Porter. The rescue pup couldn’t help but ‘derp’ after getting a second chance at life.
Animal Protective Foundation
Any shelter can be an intimidating environment for a new dog because it is full of unfamiliar sounds and smells. In fact, one study from the journal Physiology and Behavior found that dogs entering the shelter system had three times the level of the stress hormone cortisol than canines in standard households.
Porter’s situation was made all the more heartbreaking given the life he had once had. “He was a service dog for a woman who is now not well enough to take care of him,” Hathaway told Newsweek. “He would warn her about seizures and then protect her when they happened.”
Hathaway may have come into Porter’s life at the best possible time, but in truth, the feeling was mutual. “I lost my sweet chocolate lab, Addie, a week before I saw Porter on the Animal Protective Foundation website,” Hathaway said.
“I couldn’t believe my luck to find a chocolate like my sweet girl. I went to the shelter a half-hour before they opened. He ran to me wagging his tail, and I adopted him minutes later.”
They could not be better matched and, to top it all off, Hathaway is planning to enlist Porter’s help with his day job.
“He’s doing great and, as I am the CEO of two Make-A-Wish chapters, his new job will be going to work every day with me and greeting wish kids dreaming up their wishes just like my girl Addie did for nearly 10 years,” Hathaway said.
Porter rests indoors; and enjoys a field setting. The service dog has been given a new lease of life.
James Hathaway
Hathaway decided to share the photo of him and Porter to Reddit after seeing it on the shelter’s Facebook page. “His face was so funny I knew that people on Reddit would love it,” he said.
Posted under the handle u/MartianSlingshot, he wrote: “Porter is derping hard in our first pic together after I adopted him at the shelter.”
At the time of writing, the picture has been upvoted more than 13,000 times. “I didn’t expect it to explode as it did, but everywhere I go with Porter, he is celebrated and loved and he deserves it,” Hathaway said.
He added that he hopes Porter’s story will inspire others to adopt rather than shop for their next dog. “I’m just lucky to have had a great dog for so long and then to find a dog like Porter. I was so sad and missing my old girl.”
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