Oh, this is a long and beautiful story. I’d wanted to include it here but it was too much to add. The short version is—I had very low hopes we’d be about to rehome him. Every nonprofit I called said no. I couldn’t get near him without him snapping at me. He really was a vicious little sad thing.

Last ditch effort, I messaged a high school friend of mine who still lived in the area, she messaged another friend who was into dog rescue, I wrote a Facebook post detailing the situation and she shared it.

I heard from one young woman who lived about an hour north of us. She’d just lost her elderly little dog and didn’t have a yard, so she thought Woody would be a good pet for her. She came down to meet him the day after my dad went into memory care. Again—the whole house was so much lighter without my dad in it.

She walked in and before I could warn her about Woody snapping, just ran up to him and HE LEAPT INTO HER ARMS AND STARTED LICKING HER FACE.

I’ve never seen a transformation like that in my life. Suddenly Woody was happy, friendly. He even came over to give me kisses. All of us were astonished.

She took him home and sent me photo and video updates, and Woody had an amazing life with her. She took him on road trips and to friends’ homes and to farmers markets and it looks like he loved it all very much.

Sadly, she texted me last well that he had passed unexpectedly, and she was devastated. But he was 13! She gave him one amazing final year full of love.

Thanks for asking about him. Woody also escaped and found some happiness.