A husky with a crooked smile found his forever home with a family who drove more than 2,500 miles to adopt him.
Before finding his home, Harvey the dog — named after Harvey Dent, the two-faced Batman character — had trouble attracting adopters due to his facial differences.
“I actually heard people saying he was ugly because of his facial deformity,” Joy Ollinger, a lieutenant with the San Diego Department of Animal Services, told Mister Truth. “And then, the whole time he was there, no one requested to take him out for an interaction or possible adoption. Not once in the whole time.”
“We get so many people walking through, and it just made us sad because we love Harvey. We saw how much he had to offer,” she added, noting that veterinarians believe Harvey’s lopsided face could be from being bitten by a dog when he was a puppy.
So, Ollinger decided to share a post on Facebook about the overlooked animal, writing up Harvey’s best attributes in the hopes that someone would consider adopting him.
“Harvey is a quiet and mellow husky who gets along with other dogs and loves treats,” Ollinger wrote. “Harvey has a facial deformity that doesn’t bother him but gives him a crooked smile. I think it makes him even more endearing. He walks like a dream on leash too!”
Sherry Lankston, over 2,500 miles away in Woodinville, Wa. was one of the people who saw the post, and she was instantly smitten, according to News.
“The first time I saw Harvey’s goofy smile, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s the cutest dog ever,” Lankston told the outlet. “I joked with my husband that I had found our second dog. We’d been talking about getting a second dog for a while. River, our first dog, loves other dogs and needed a friend.”
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She reached out to Ollinger about meeting the pup and eventually decided to make the long drive down to San Diego, over 2,500 miles, to adopt Harvey. Lankston told that she made the three–day journey with her two sons, who were on a school break, and their dog River.
“It was love at first sight!” she added about meeting Harvey,
After adopting Harvey, Lankston connected with the woman who rescued the dog. She told Lankston she had been riding ATVs in the desert when she came upon Harvey and two female dogs hiding under a bush.
“He saved the other two girl Huskies’ lives. The girls were very afraid of ATVs, but he helped them and wouldn’t leave them behind,” Lankston told News of what she learned about Harvey.
She told the outlet that Harvey has been “great” since moving in with the family.
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“He’s playing with the kids, he’s playing with us. It took River a day or two to really kind of settle in and realize that he’s not just visiting. He is here forever,” Lankston said, adding that she wanted to tell his story to inspire others to adopt.
“He’s just a great dog, and I wish other people would hear the story and just say, ‘You know what, let’s go check out the shelter and maybe not pass up that wonky dog in a corner because that wonky dog in the corner could be their best friend,” she told .