Dog’s ‘bright energy’ shined in year at NC shelter — then family ‘fell in love’
A dog spent more than a year at a shelter — but it was “worth the wait.”
That’s because the “perfect” family eventually fell for Landon and decided to adopt him in North Carolina.
“While we will miss his bright energy and his daily greetings, we are so thrilled and thankful he has found his forever,” Lake Norman Humane wrote July 8 in the caption of a video posted to Facebook.
The heartwarming video shows Landon running to his new mom after waiting at the shelter for 377 days. It turns out, she was a familiar face.
Landon had participated in a training program and “spent time in a foster home to practice his skills in a real-world setting. That’s where the magic happened — his fosters fell in love with him and decided to make him part of their family,” Abby Richardson, animal welfare manager for the shelter, told McClatchy News via email.
Landon got a second chance after he arrived at Lake Norman Humane in June 2024. At the time, he was transferred from another facility.
“He had been found wandering as a stray, with no identification and no known history,” Richardson wrote. “That meant our team had to start from scratch — learning who he was, what he needed, and how we could help him succeed. The shelter he came from was reaching capacity and needed help moving animals to avoid overcrowding. Landon stood out as a fun, playful dog with potential — he just needed a little extra support.”
At the shelter, Landon became known for his friendly and “goofy” personality. He had a knack for solving puzzles and showed off his “rowdy” side during playtime, the shelter wrote on social media in February.
But over time, Landon got overlooked. When his stay started to take a toll on him, shelter workers helped him with behavioral skills.
“Landon’s 377-day stay was much longer than most,” Richardson wrote. “Right now, our average length of stay for dogs is around 63 days — which is already longer than we aim for. In an ideal world, our animals would find loving homes in under a month. Unfortunately, adoptions — especially for medium to large dogs — have been slower over the past few years.”
As he waited for a home, Landon started spending weekends with a foster family. Then one day, they decided to keep the pup on a permanent basis, leading to the emotional adoption.
“We were absolutely ecstatic,” Richardson wrote. “Landon had become a part of our family, and his adoption felt like a victory for everyone involved.”
The shelter is in Mooresville, a roughly 25-mile drive north from uptown Charlotte.
