When Cinnamon, a red-nose Pitbull mom, was left at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control shelter in North Carolina, her spirit was shattered.
She had been cruelly separated from her puppies. Each time someone stopped to give her a bit of attention, her eyes swelled up with tears.
This heartbroken Pitbull caught the attention of a kind-hearted volunteer; who recorded a short video of her and shared it on Facebook.
In just 48 hours, Cinnamon’s world turned upside down.
A Heart Full of Tears
Sarah Jennings Sleime, who usually volunteers for the Greater Charlotte SPCA, decided to make an impromptu visit to the animal control center one Saturday to look at some dogs for possible rescue.
Little did she know that one particular dog would tug at her heartstrings like never before.
“I walked the kennels, and a pit bull caught my eye… she was sitting up, kind of slumped-over, almost human-like,” Sleime shared in her Instagram post.
It was clear that this poor girl had recently given birth and was now heartbroken, missing her puppies dearly.
“[The shelter workers] believe she was confined and used as a breeding machine. She’s obviously had many, many litters,” Sleime told The Dodo.
Moved by the sight of Cinnamon, Sleime knelt to speak to her, but each time she did, Cinnamon’s eyes filled with tears.
“It was the most heart-wrenching thing I’ve ever seen,” Sleime said.
Without a foster home available, the SPCA couldn’t rescue larger dogs like Cinnamon, but Sleime knew she couldn’t walk away without trying to help this sweet dog.
“I snapped some video footage of her “crying” and posted it to Facebook. Forty-eight hours later, that video has been viewed 1 MILLION times and shared by 20k people,” Sleime wrote.
Within a day, Sleime’s inbox was overflowing with messages from people asking about Cinnamon; and if she was available for adoption.
So many people were eager to give this beautiful dog a new life filled with love instead of tears.
A New Beginning
Among the hundreds of people who saw Cinnamon’s video was Meghan Connor Shelton; a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, and a friend of Sleime.
Shelton told The Dodo.
“I have a special place in my heart for pit bulls. I think they’re a very misunderstood dog and a misunderstood breed. And when I saw her in that video, literally crying in a cage, I cried. My kids cried. I showed my husband, and he said we could go look at her tomorrow.”
The following morning, Shelton’s family was the first in line to meet Cinnamon.
It was love at first sight for the whole family, including the children. “It was love at first sight. She just kind of pulled at our heartstrings,” Shelton said.
They completed the adoption paperwork, and as soon as Cinnamon – now named Rosie – was spayed, they took her home.
The family already had another dog, a 3-year-old Pitbull named Blu.
Initially, they weren’t sure how the two would get along, especially given everything Rosie had been through, but she surprised everyone.
“It was interesting because you never know how it’s going to go, but they just kind of sat next to each other with tails wagging,” Shelton said.
The two dogs quickly became inseparable, like they had been friends for years.
As Rosie began to settle into her new home and life, her true personality started to shine through. One of the family’s favorite things about her is that “when she gets excited, she snorts like a pig.”
Rosie’s emotional video not only found her a loving home; but also inspired many other dogs at the shelter to find their forever families.
More hope for foster dogs
“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,” Sleime said.
A simple video or photo can reach millions and, in just moments, change a life forever.
Visit the CMPD Animal Care and Control page and the Greater Charlotte SPCA website for more information about adoptable dogs and how you can save a life just like Rosie’s.