Animal shelters are meant to serve as a temporary refuge for homeless pets, but in practice, they often become permanent homes for these lost souls.

Seminole County Animal Services in Florida, both a dog pound and a shelter, wanted to commemorate one of their pets’ one-year anniversary at the shelter by posting a sad timelapse video where it shows Sophie persistently waiting for her new family to arrive.

Thanks to the video’s virality, a bunch of people came to the shelter to inquire about Sophie, and she was finally adopted.

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Meet Sophie, a dog that has been patiently waiting for her new family at the Seminole County Animal Services

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

Sophie, a sweet seven-year-old dog, had spent a long and lonely year at the shelter, patiently waiting for her forever home. Despite her best efforts to capture the attention of passersby, she was consistently overlooked.

Bored Panda got in touch with Seminole County Animal Services to learn more about Sophie’s story.
“Sophie came in because her owners stated she ran up to someone walking their dog, and they were unable to handle her any longer. She was a very happy dog here. In the beginning, just like any dog when they first get here, she was nervous and would bark at everyone. She settled in and shortly became a shelter favorite,” shared the staff.

Since it was Sophie’s one-year anniversary, the shelter staff decided to document a timelapse video of her daily routine in hopes that this would help her get adopted

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

As her one-year anniversary at the shelter approached, the staff posted a heart-wrenching time-lapse video to their Facebook page of Sophie eagerly anticipating the arrival of potential adopters in the corridor. Here is how shelter staff came up with the idea: “We had seen time-lapse videos of other facilities trying it, so we thought ‘what could it hurt’. We got with our AV department, and they helped us set up a time-lapse camera in her kennel for a day just to show how often people just walk by, and to give the public an idea of what it’s like for the animals who stay in our care and what they see every day.”

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

Take a glimpse into the lives of millions of hopeful dogs awaiting their forever homes:

Day after day, Sophie, along with other dogs, would beg for attention from anyone who walked by

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

The staff of Seminole County Animal Services shared their advice for people who are interested in adopting a pet, but are hesitant to do so. “My best advice for someone interested in adopting a pet would first be to make sure you are ready for the commitment. Then, it would be to stop by your local shelter and ask questions. The staff knows the animals in their care the best. Let them know your lifestyle and what you may be looking for in a new pet. Come in open-minded, animals come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, and ages. Take your time meeting them, you’ll never get a clear understanding of a potential new pet after meeting it for a couple of minutes. Remember, they spend a lot of time stuck in their kennels, so when they come out to meet a potential new family, they are usually overly excited and need to get some energy out of their system, or it may take them a little while to get used to an unfamiliar face or scent. It can all be overwhelming for you and the animals, but going to a shelter can also be a great experience. Just be patient and open-minded, you may just find exactly what you are looking for and then some.”

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

Luckily, due to the video going viral, after 364 days of living at Seminole County Animal Services, Sophie finally found her new dad

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

The scheme worked. The virality of Sophie’s video also led to quite a few other dogs finding homes as well. “We were shocked when we got a HUGE response from the public. It was our most shared post. I don’t think anything we’ve ever posted has gotten so much traction.  The very next day, we had emails, voicemails, people calling the shelter asking about her, comments, and Facebook messages to sort through. I don’t think we even got a chance to respond to all of them before she got adopted.”

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

Though Sophie was left in shelter care due to claims of being unfriendly with other dogs, this was disproven by the new family she still now a part of.
“Adoption opens at 10 am every day. I believe only one hour after the adoption opened, we had a gentleman come in specifically for her. He said he and his wife had seen her Facebook post, and he had to come in. He spent some time with her. She was her typical sweet self, and he had fallen in love. He mentioned a few times his wife was on board and just from the post didn’t even need to meet her to know she wanted to adopt, so that’s exactly what he did. Due to what her previous owner had said about her not getting along with other dogs, we had warned him, because he had 2 other dogs at home, and it didn’t even seem to faze him. We are so glad to be proven wrong because it’s been about 2 and a half weeks, and the last update we got was that she was doing wonderful with her new family and 2 new doggie sisters,” shared the staff.

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

The timelapse video may have been sad, but it ultimately brought Sophie the happiness and love she deserved

Image credits: Seminole County Animal Services

We are happy that Sophie had her happy ending, but there are still so many dogs patiently waiting for theirs. “Hopefully, Sophie’s story and the video of her in her kennel can make people consider visiting a shelter and take their time walking through. We understand it can be stressful, it’s loud and it’s sad to see all the animals in a cage, but how do you think they feel? Much like Sophie, a lot of these dogs watch as people and other dogs come and go, seeing the smaller/cuter/younger ones get adopted quickly while they just watch from behind their kennel doors day in and day out. We fall in love with their furry faces and want the best for them, so we hope the video and Sophie’s story can encourage people to stop by their local shelter,” shared Seminole County Animal Services staff.

This is what people on Facebook had to say about Sophie getting adopted:

Heidi Hutson-Vain

Pauline Benzikie

Paula Sue Daiell

Stacey Sanders Pickering

Hallie Ballie

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