Saved from a high-kill shelter in Texas three months ago, rescuers weren’t even sure that Buttons could walk when they first saw him.
“The shelter just wheeled him out to us in a wheelbarrow,” Jessica Russell, president of A Chance to Bloom Rescue, told The Dodo. “We had no idea what kind of shape he was in.”
After a trip to the hospital, however, vets realized that 3-year-old Buttons' head was permanently tilted to one side. This could have been from two different scenarios: he just had a genetic neck deformity, or was locked in a crate that was too small for him to lift his head all the way so he became crooked as he grew.
“We have no way of knowing for sure, but he was put on medicine to make sure his spinal fluids were draining correctly,” Russell said. “He’s perfectly healthy now, but his head will have a slight tilt all the time.”
After sorting his health out, it wasn’t long before rescuers realized how desperate for attention Buttons was.
They decided to introduce him to another special dog, 2-year-old Grace, who was found as a stray last November after she had been hit by a car. Her back leg was amputated after the accident, but even after healing, she still hadn’t found a home.
She was lonely, too.
“Buttons will cry if Grace is in another room,” Russell said. “She is like his security blanket.”
And Grace is pretty attached to Buttons, too.
“Grace loves running and is always right there alongside him,” Russell said. “They love rolling in the grass together.”
For now, Grace and Buttons cozy up together at the shelter each night — but Russell hopes that they will be adopted out together soon.
“I think some people may be scared they’ll require more medical care than any other dog, but they’re about the same,” Russell said. So far, everyone has passed them by even though they’re great with kids and other dogs.
“Once people meet them in person, they’ll fall in love,” she added. “Just watching the two of them together is really something special.”