Just a year ago, Shelton, a young mutt from Resistencia, Argentina, showed up to the surrounding area of the Normal Sarmiento school. No one knew who he belonged to and most people didn’t care about the homeless puppy. He scavenged for food and searched for a safe place to spend at night, but without him knowing it, a group of students, school librarians and other locals who fell in love with the dog took it upon themselves to help him survive.

During school hours, Shelton was welcomed inside the school’s library – he even had his specially marked box where he peacefully slept – but once school closed, Shelton had to return to his life on the streets.

From Monday through Friday Shelton was fed by the librarians, and on the weekends a kind woman took over the feeding task. However, whenever the school closed for summer or winter break, there was no one looking out for Shelton or his welfare. He had no safe place to sleep and no constant meal. If it rained, or if it was too cold or too hot outside, Shelton had to find a way to survive on his own.

Zaira Kordi, a volunteer with the organization learned about the homeless dog after two librarians contacted her to tell her his story. She set out to meet and help him.

“Shelton is very special, he is not your regular stray dog,” said Kordi. “He has a lot of personality and is very gentle and friendly. He adores children and is always looking for a loving human touch. You can tell he is not happy as a stray dog and he is looking for a home of his own where he will be really loved.”

Kordi met Shelton at Plaza July 9th during a musical concert. There were more than 300 people present, but the rescuer says that on that day Shelton was invisible. No one noticed him and no one cared.

After meeting the homeless dog, Kordi took a few photographs and posted them on Facebook. She hoped his story would be shared and maybe someone from the area would come forward to adopt him. His story was shared by many and thanks to that, Shelton moved into his forever home today.

“For a street dog it takes time to adapt to being a house pet,” said Kordi “However, if Shelton is happy and adapts to his new life and home, this [referring to the photograph below] will be his forever home.”

Shelton’s story was shared more than 800 times on Facebook, and that is how María Rosa Zago and her family learned about the dog. The Zago family adopted Shelton and now the former dog who found refuge inside the library during the day,will have two human siblings, a roof over his head and best of all, unconditional love.

Zago was not the only one interested in the pet, but her home was the one that matched Shelton’s needs the best.

“Many families became interested in adopting Shelton,” said Kordi. “I hope those families who were not selected as Shelton’s new owners will open up their hearts to adopt one of the many other street dogs that need help. There are so many of them and they all need a home. All of them suffer abuse and all of them have been abandoned, I just hope we can finalize more adoptions and get many more stray dogs off the streets.”