Dog was shelter’s longest resident, but couple takes one look and knows he’s the one

Every shelter dog dreams of finding their forever home, but sadly it takes some longer than others to get adopted. Some dogs just get passed over again and again, to the point where they become the shelter’s longest resident.

But thankfully, there are also kind people willing to step up and take a chance on these long-waiting dogs. That was the case recently, when one couple fell in love with a dog named Milton and knew they could be the ones to adopt him.

Hannah Vance, from Philadelphia, and her boyfriend Alex Amentler were interested in adopting a pet dog from a shelter. “I grew up having dogs and missed them so much,” Hannah told Newsweek. “After graduating college, my boyfriend and I had a little flexibility with our jobs so we started looking around local shelters.”

While they met with many dogs, none of them clicked — but then they saw Milton, a longtime resident of the Providence Animal Center, in Media, Pennsylvania.

Milton, a 2-year-old pit bull, was always passed over by adopters and was the shelter’s longest resident, but to Hannah and Alex, he was perfect.

The couple were able to take Milton in for a temporary stay as part of the shelter’s “Doggie Sleepover” program. Milton got a nice day out of the kennels, and the couple fell further in love with the rescue pup.

“We were able to take him out of the shelter and do fun things with him, so he wasn’t cooped up all day,” Alex told FOX 29. “We were able to explore, but then we were kind of able to gauge his activity level with that experience and see what he likes and what he doesn’t like.” 

“He’s such an angel,” Hannah said. “He’s crate trained. He’s leash trained. He’s house-trained. We never expected any of that coming from a shelter. All such a pleasant surprise.”

With that, Milton’s long wait was finally over. The couple returned to the shelter that week to adopt him for good, documenting their journey in a TikTok. They were relieved to see he was still available and said Milton was “hype” to see them, and that the dog remembered them from their previous visit.

Photos show the dog with a big happy face as he leaves the shelter for his freedom ride, settling in well in his cozy new home, and going on adventures to the lake.