Adopted! Dog that spent more than 450 days in West LA shelter finally has forever home
Shelter staff grew to love Alexander, but think the gentle giant's size may have made adoption more difficult
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A dog who spent some 15 months at a Los Angeles shelter has finally been adopted after extraordinary efforts to find him a permanent home.
Alexander became a staff and volunteer favorite at Wags and Walks adoption center after being in their care for more than 450 days.
The 3-year-old gentle giant was rescued from a crowded shelter in Southern California where his life was sadly at risk. Over the course of his stay at Wags and Walks, more than 800 other dogs found their forever homes.
Now it's finally Alexander's turn.
"Seeing wonderful Alexander sitting and waiting for that amount of time through no fault of their own has been really hard and heartbreaking for all of us here at Wags," said Chloe Esperiquette, development manager at Wags and Walks.
The healthy doberman-shepherd mix is considered a playgroup all-star. He loves other dogs and people.
Since its inception in 2011 Wags and Walks in Los Angeles has rescued more than 7,000 dogs and matched them with families. Esperiquette believes one reason it took so long could be Alexander's size, in a city where a lot of people live in apartments and prefer smaller dogs.
The shelter put together a special event just to find him a home. Adopt Alexander Day was held on Friday.
He now has new adopted parents.
Because of his size and how long he's been looking for a family, Wags and Walks is allowing the potential forever parents to spend time at home with Alexander as a trial before signing the adoption contract.
The nonprofit saves about 20 dogs a week and it has roughly 100 dogs in its care looking for homes at any given time, but Wags and Walks pulled out all the stops to find Alexander a home.
The video in the player above aired prior to Alexander being adopted.
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