The Kennebec Valley Humane Society (KVHS) in Augusta, Maine rescued a couple pups a few months prior and now they've gone above and beyond to make sure that the two are adopted. The situation, however, is a bit more complicated than you'd expect, but infinitely more heartwarming.
Jack and Diane are two mixed breed senior dogs. The average age of human retirement floats around age 63, but dog years carry more weight than human years. To the best of their knowledge, KVHS put Jack and Diane at ages 10 and seven. That's about 70 and 49 in dog years. And when they found the pair of them, they were together.
"They were found with their leashes tied together wandering a cemetery," a KVHS staff person reported. "They do need to find a home together because they are very bonded."
In situations like this, Jack and Diane are what's referred to as a bonded pair. In the adoption process, the shelter will do everything they can to ensure the two dogs are adopted together. Of course, being a bonded pair comes with the stipulation of adopting both dogs, so you can imagine that bonded pairs are generally adopted less often than individual dogs.
This proved the case with Jack and Diane, but their situation is even more particular because, as senior dogs, they call for a forever home that doesn't have children nor other pets.
"Our dogs without restrictions often get adopted very quickly, leaving those with restrictions being posted often and left on our adoption floor for a much longer time. We place the restrictions to ensure a successful life in their forever home; in this case, these two are just older and prefer to not be disturbed when resting or lounging, which proved to be an issue when living with younger children previously," KVHS explained in a Facebook post.
Faced with these challenges, the shelter set to work to make sure Jack and Diane found a forever home together. Naturally, they planned a wedding ceremony between the two elderly dogs in a social media campaign aimed at finding them a home forever together. Studies have shown the most popular months to get married are June (15%) and October (14%), but on in the dead of winter on February 8, 2019, Jack and Diane got married in a ceremony that almost instantly went viral. The idea stemmed from the thought that the dogs already acted like an old married couple, so why not celebrate it with an actual wedding ceremony?
"Jack and Diane have finally made things official and tied the knot, and what a beautiful celebration it was! Our blushing bride and handsome groom may be considered "seniors", but they will be forever young at heart!" KVHS said on Facebook. "And you know where they'd like to go for their honeymoon? Home."
The post shows pictures of the two dogs decked out in bow tie and bridal veil on a rose petal strewn red carpet with "just married" adorning the background. It's truly remarkable. Research has shown that the most joyous senior retirees regularly engage in three to four activities regularly, and people have been bombarding the KVHS Facebook asking what Jack and Diane love to do. At this point, they'd love nothing more than a forever home together where they can relax a little bit in marital bliss.
KVHS has covered the sponsorship fees for Jack and Diane, but, as of now, they're still waiting on their forever home amid a swarm of support. Two American mixes doin' the best they can.