The Dog Adopter: Grieving man goes to the shelter and adopts every overlooked dog there

While many of us call ourselves animal lovers, there are very few in life whose love for our furry friends run as deep as Steve Greig’s does. That’s especially true when it comes to caring for senior dogs.

As a child, Steve was lucky enough to be surrounded by animals growing up and developed a strong sense of connection with them.

This is something he has fully carried into his adulthood.

As long as he can remember, Steve has always had plenty of pets in his home. Fortunately for the Colorado-based animal lover, he has plenty of land to share with his enormous inter-species family.

One day, though, tragedy struck Steve’s furry family.

One of his beloved dogs passed away, and this time around, it hit him extra hard. After spending several months of grieving, he decided he needed to do something to commemorate the special bond he had with his pup.

That’s when Steve took a trip to the local animal shelter, but not to get just any dog. His personal mission was to rescue the most un-adoptable dog the shelter had.

“So (I adopted) a 12-year-old Chihuahua (named Eeyore) with a heart murmur and four bad knees and I brought him home and that was just the beginning of all the animals,” Steve explains in an interview with The Dodo.

Steve was determined to give a dog in need a second lease on life. He ultimately believed that the only way to heal from his dog’s death was to make sure that something really, really good came from it.

“I was just so distraught about (that death). A month or two went by and I still felt so horrible about it. I decided that the only way I would feel better was if something good happened that probably wouldn’t have happened if he had not died,” Steve recalls.

Little did Steve know that he wouldn’t be able to stop with just one adoption.

The animal lover had caught the adoption bug. Over time Steve found himself taking in more and more “un-adoptable” dogs.

Within a short amount of time, Steve had officially adopted 10 senior dogs, all of which had been passed over at the shelter. He didn’t just stick to helping out the shelter dogs, though.

Steve is also the proud human of two ducks, two pigeons, a Chicken named Oprah, and even an adorable pig named Bikini.

While she is most definitely a hog, no one can convince her that she’s not a dog like most of her siblings. In fact, she has even developed quite the little crush on Enoch, Steve’s Irish Wolfhound.

Seems like a lot, right? Well, believe it or not, that isn’t all of his pet family.

In addition to the rag-tag team of furry and feathered friends mentioned above, Steve also plays dad to Stuart, his uber adorable bunny rabbit.

Steve just happened to find Stuart hanging out in his yard one day. He thinks he may have been left there by a well-meaning local.

“That rabbit, someone just left him in my front yard is how I came to get him. I assume someone knew I had lots of animals and thought ‘Yeah, he’ll give him a good home.’

So, I found him in my front yard one morning and I put him in the chicken coop because I wasn’t sure what to do with him,” Steve told The Dodo.

Things ended up working just fine, though, as Stuart is what Steve describes as “the most chill rabbit”. The little hopper gets along with all of his hodge-podge clan.

When asked what draws Steve to the senior shelter dogs, in particular, he said that he just loves them.

The fact that they’re older and less inclined to chase his chicken and rabbit around or tear up the house makes it a lot easier to take care of all of them together. Beyond that, he feels that the old souls of senior dogs seem to be easier to connect with.

“They’re just wiser animals. You kind of know what you want out of life once you become a certain age. These dogs know who they are and it’s easy to develop a relationship with a person or pet who knows who they are,” he explains.

Eventually, Steve decided it was time to share his big animal family and their silly antics with the world. He created an Instagram page just for them, called Wolfgang2242, and it went Insta-viral. It quickly soared to 880,000 followers and counting.

While it’s nice to have so much support from his followers, ultimately Steve says that being a dad to so many unique and wonderful animals is self-rewarding.

“They just make it feel like home. It’s just fulfilling knowing that these guys are happy and loved and well-taken care of. It makes my days worthwhile,” he says.

All we can say is thank God for people like Steve who are willing to go out of their way to love the shelter dogs and other animals that go without. To see more of Steve’s large, lovable family, visit them on their Instagram page.

(Article source: Ron Project)