The Summer of 2016 has been one of the hottest ones on record, with temperatures in certain regions of the country going past the 3 digits, and yet, that didn’t seem to discourage people from playing a very popular game that requires one to venture into the great outdoors, regardless of the heat index.
Whether you are in the middle of a city or in a small town park, you are going to find game players walking like Zombies to catch Pokémons and fill their Pokédex! There’s no doubt everyone got hooked on this super fun, augmented reality game and a lucky shelter dog found his forever home thanks to that. Well, sort of.
When Phil Peckinpaugh, the director of Muncie Animal Shelter in Indiana, was walking with his daughter helping her catch some Pokémons, he saw a lot of people doing the same. He came up with an idea: why not get this people to do something good and have fun playing the game at the same time?
Dogs at animal shelters need constant interaction, stimulation and physical activities, but there’s so much shelter workers and volunteers can do for the dogs on a daily basis besides providing the care they need.
He then posted to the shelter’s Facebook Page: ”While you’re out playing Pokémon Go, please come down to the Muncie Animal Shelter and ask one of our staff members to hook you up with a Pokémon dog.”
The Facebook post went viral and many people lined up at the shelter to walk one of the Pokémon dogs. Michael Keihn was one of them. He saw the post and thought it was a great idea. He went to the shelter and got matched with a beautiful black dog, named Balloo to walk that day. The rest is history. The very next morning, Michael was back to the animal shelter. This time, it was not to walk another one of their dogs, but to bring his friend Balloo home with him!
”He just had these eyes, like, I choose you. And I chose you!”
Balloo is a very lucky dog, now enjoying his new family in his forever home. There are thousands of beautiful dogs just like Balloo waiting in shelters for a home and a family to love. Like the saying goes, ”People who say money can’t buy happiness have obviously never paid an adoption fee!”
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