Dog Finally Got His Forever Home After Spending More Than 450 Days in West LA Shelter

LOS ANGELES: A dog who spent 450 days at a Los Angeles shelter has finally been adopted after great efforts to find a permanent home.

Alexander became a volunteer and staff favorite at Wags and Walks adoption center after being in their care for more than 450 days.

He is a 3-year-old gentle giant rescued from a crowded shelter in Southern California, where his life was sadly at risk. Throughout his stay at Wags and Walks, more than 800 other dogs found their forever homes.

Now it’s finally Alexander’s turn. Chloe Esperiquette, development manager at Wags and Walks, said, “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.”

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. So the shelter put together a special event to find him a home. Adopt Alexander Day was held on Friday. He now has newly adopted parents.

Because of his size and how long he’s been looking for a family, Wags and Walks are 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 around 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.