A dog at a shelter for 10 years has finally found her forever home. Jill the American Pit bull mix was found as a heartworm positive stray dog on the streets of Texas when she was just 1 year old.
She was taken to Clay County Animal Shelter in Henrietta, Texas and would become one of their long term residents. There were a few hopeful moments for Jill during her 10 year stay at the shelter, but adoption was dashed by breed-specific legislation.
“We’ve had several applications put in on Jill before, but because she is a pit, a lot of landlords wouldn’t allow them to have her,” Bonnie Stone, who manages Clay County Animal Shelter, told KFDX-TV. “Since there was trouble finding her a family, and this is a no-kill shelter, it became her home and the workers became her family.”
That is until Kellie Blassingame came into the shelter in early July. Kellie was looking to adopt a senior dog, knowing they are often overlooked by potential adopters. She immediately got along with Jill.
“All the other dogs were very sweet [Jill] just naturally gravitated towards me. I just knew that a lot of time, senior dogs don’t get adopted very often, so that was one of the main reasons I wanted to adopt an older dog,” Kellie told the news channel.
The two are now settled at Kellie’s home and getting along famously. Jill even has an adorable new nickname “JilliBeans.”
For Bonnie, seeing Jill finally in a loving home is thrilling for her. The shelter manager said, “My thing is she got adopted July 4, Independence Day. Jill got her Independence!”
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