“I absolutely loved seeing how happy he was.”
Meet Ribeye — a rescue pup who’s lived at the Spartanburg Humane Society for the past year. At two years old, Ribeye has spent half his life at the shelter. Though Ribeye loves playing with shelter staff, he sometimes finds the rescue environment overwhelming, so he often relies on one of his favorite toys — tennis balls — for comfort.
“The shelter can be a stressful place sometimes with all the noise, smells and other animals,” Sam Clutter, an animal care technician and adoption counselor at Spartanburg, told The Dodo.
When Rubber Rescue recently saw a video of Ribeye playing with a huge tennis ball, they reached out to Clutter to make a donation. Soon, boxes containing 200 tennis balls arrived at the shelter, addressed to Ribeye.
Clutter brought Ribeye to the shelter’s yard, where a baby pool was ready to catch all the new toys. She overturned the cardboard boxes and soon the bright green balls were bouncing around the yard, much to Ribeye’s shock and delight. He began running around, overwhelmed with happiness at how many new toys surrounded him.
“I absolutely loved seeing how happy he was receiving all his tennis balls,” Clutter said. “[It] absolutely made my day.”
Clutter is glad that Ribeye and the other dogs at the shelter have these donated tennis balls to play with. However, Clutter hopes that soon Ribeye will have a new family and toys of his own.
“He is the sweetest, most loving, playful dog,” Clutter said. “[He] would love to have his own toy box full of all the toys he could imagine.”
Though she’ll miss him when he’s gone, Clutter looks forward to the day Ribeye finds his perfect match — a family excited to give the energetic pup all the care he needs.
“He would love to have a family he can [go on] outdoor adventures or trips with,” Clutter said. “He would play all day with his future family. And at the end of the day, [he] would love to snuggle up and relax.”