Most reunion stories involving animals are emotional and heartwarming. However, this reunion story is quite unusual, and it’s something that only happens in the movies.
Jason Hellerstein and his girlfriend, Mattie Kahn, recently adopted a dog named Marvin. One day, they decided to walk their newly adopted pet near their Upper West Side home when Marvin became extra friendly with another stranger dog.
Hellerstein and Kahn felt perplexed as Marvin doesn’t do this with other dogs. It was as if Marvin knew the dog very well.
Tara Derington owns the other dog, whose name is Leo. She, too, noticed the unusual connection between the two dogs.
Her dog was still new to the city and was mainly apprehensive about nearly everything. So when he greeted Marvin as she knew him, it felt perplexing.
The dog owners began to do an exchange of queries: What kind of dog is he? Where did you adopt him?
Finally, when Hellerstein divulged that he adopted Marvin a few weeks prior from a Texas rescue shelter, Derington began to make the connection: Marvin is Leo’s father.
Derington knew that because she originally wanted to adopt Marvin, another person from New York City already claimed him.
Here is the funniest part: Marvin had another son with Leo at the shelter, and his name is Murray. And Derington’s friend, Anne Sachs, adopted Murray, and they live nearby, too!
As we dig deeper into Marvin’s adoption story, it all began when Hellerstein began looking for a dog to adopt last August of 2020. Many people started to adopt dogs to cope during the pandemic, and the demand was high.
According to Kahn, adopting a dog is entirely equivalent to sending a kid to a prestigious school.
Eventually, the couple browsed Petfinder.com, a site that sources rescue animals. Finally, they came across Dr. Dolittle’s Rescue Ranch, an animal shelter located in McAllen, Texas.
According to Tammy Vergel de Dios, director of Dr. Dolittle’s Rescue Ranch, they transport dogs to New York City weekly. They usually transport dogs of Marvin’s and Leo’s type since they’re the perfect dogs for apartments.
Vergel de Dios shares that Marvin’s and Leo’s previous owner felt compelled to surrender them together when their previous owner exceeded the dog limit imposed by her apartment building.
Then, they transported the two dogs using the same van from Texas to the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Murray, on the other hand, arrived at Dr. Dollitle’s sometime later. They all decided to reunite all three at the dog park. It was a momentous occasion amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Three dogs, separated in Texas, were again brought together by chance. Now they live within a mile of each other in New York City and the same neighborhood.
Hellerstein, Derrington, Kahn, and Sachs will remember and cherish this unbelievable story with fondness. Hopefully, Marvin, Leo, and Murray will encourage other people to consider adoption. Who knows, maybe another exciting story waits to reveal itself!
Watch this amazing reunion story here:
Source: Inside Edition via YouTube