Cinnamon was devastated when she was left at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control shelter in North Carolina, a red-nosed Pitbull girl.
Tears welled in her eyes every time someone paused to speak with her after she had been abandoned without her babies.
One volunteer happened upon this depressed Pitbull mother and wanted to record a quick video of her and share it on Facebook.
Cinnamon had a very different life just 48 hours later.
Anguished Heart Cry
Normally volunteering with the Greater Charlotte SPCA, Sarah Jennings Sleime made the decision one Saturday to visit animal control on the spur of the moment to look at a few canines who might need to be rescued.
That one canine in particular would crush her heart was beyond her comprehension.
“I walked the kennels and a pit bull caught my eye… she was sitting up, kind of slumped-over, almost human-like,” Sleime wrote in an Instagram post.
She clearly just had puppies and was devastated that they weren’t there with her.
Workers at the shelter think she was kept in a cage and used as a breeding machine. Clearly, she has had a lot of litters, Sleime told The Dodo.
Then, bending over, she began speaking with Cinnamon, but every time she did, tears welled up in her eyes.
The weirdest phenomena, Sleime said.
Big dogs could not be rescued by the SPCA in the lack of a foster home, but Sleime knew she had to take action to save this terrible creature.
I recorded her ‘sobbing’ on camera and uploaded it to Facebook. In just 48 hours, the film has been shared by 20,000 individuals and watched 1 million times,” said Sleime.
Sleime received hundreds of emails about Cinnamon and her availability in only one day.
This lovely girl was much sought after to be adopted and given a fresh, tear-free existence.
Wonderfully Ever After
Among the hundreds of individuals to view Cinnamon’s video was Sleime’s friend Meghan Connor Shelton of Charlotte, North Carolina.
Telling The Dodo, she said
Pit bulls hold a particular place in my affections. They seem to me to be a very misunderstood breed and dog. And I sobbed when I watched her in that video, essentially sobbing in a cell. They sobbed, my kids. We could go look at her tomorrow, my husband suggested when I showed him.
The Shelton family was first in line to see Cinnamon the following morning.
The kids included, the entire family fell head over heels in love with her.Love at first sight, that was. Shelton stated, “She just kind of tugged at our heartsstrings.”
They completed the paperwork, and they brought Cinnamon—now known as Rosie—home as soon as she was spayed.
A 3-year-old Pitbull male named Blu was already a member of the family.
Considering all Rosie had gone through in her life, they weren’t sure at first if the two would get along, but she shocked everyone.
They simply kind of sat next to each other with tails wagging, which made it exciting because you never know how things will turn out, Shelton added.
These days, the two are the closest of friends and relish spending time together.They seem to have been acquainted their entire lives.
Rosie’s personality developed along with her gradually acclimatization to her new house and lifestyle. She snorts like a pig when she gets agitated, which the family claims is one of her most intriguing traits.
In addition to finding Rosie a new home, her heartfelt video assisted numerous other dogs at the shelter in finding their permanent homes.
“Small acts have a big impact: not only was this sweet dog, Cinnamon, adopted the next morning, but other families who came to adopt her saved other dogs at the shelter, freeing up kennels for strays and owner surrenders waiting in the back who would have certainly been euthanized as the shelter is full,” said Schleime.
Millions of people can be reached and someone’s life can be transformed in a matter of seconds by one straightforward video or picture.
Find out more about adoptable canines at the Greater Charlotte SPCA website and the CMPD Animal Care and Control page to help save another puppy’s life, just like Rosie’s was.
