Nobody understood why Benji kept getting returned to the shelter after being adopted. It had been 11 times by now, and all his owners kept giving obviously fake and weak excuses. Only when the new trainee decided to take Benji home with her did they find out what was actually wrong with Benji.  And nobody at the shelter could have predicted this… Stacy was still shaken from the experience as she was driving back to the shelter. Benji was in the backseat sleeping. Stacy felt horrible as she had been so sure she could help this poor dog but now he had to be returned to the shelter for the 12th time. But at least they now knew why… Stacy had called ahead and there were 3 other employees waiting for her and Benji to arrive. They were obviously disappointed that the adoption had not worked out, but they were also extremely curious as to the reason for it as now they would finally get an honest answer. 11 times Benji had been returned to the shelter, always with an excuse, but they knew that Stacy would tell them the truth. But they would find out that they were not ready for the truth… So why was Benjij returned to the Shelter 11 times? What was wrong with this poor dog, and could they fix it? By this point, Benji had been at the animal shelter for 1,5 years. He was barely a puppy anymore, but he still very much looked like one, and everybody who came to the shelter to pick immediately fell in love with him and wanted to take him home. So why was poor Benji still here?  The truth is that from those 1,5 years, Benji actually didn’t spend that much time in the shelter. If he was present there, it would be at most 2 weeks before he was adopted by somebody. But the thing is that he just kept getting returned by the people who adopted him. This already started when he was brought into the shelter for the first time as only a 3-week-old puppy. His first owners had a dog who gave birth to 5 healthy puppies. But they inexplicably decided to keep four of them, and only Benji was handed over to the shelter without a word of explanation… Some eyebrows were raised at the shelter at the time, so they had Benji extensively checked by their on-call veterinarian. When all the test results showed that there was seemingly nothing wrong with the puppy, the shelter just concluded that he probably just got unlucky, ending up here. They put him up for adoption that same day, and the very next day, somebody had already come in to adopt him. It wasn’t every day that a shelter would have puppies up for adoption as mostly older dogs were brought in, so people who saw Benji knew this was a golden chance. The family he was going to seemed to be absolutely perfect. A young married couple with a 5-year-old daughter dying to get a puppy. The mother also worked from home, so there would always be people around to give Benji attention. Nobody at the shelter expected to ever see Benjio again… They had called one week after the adoption had taken place for a mandatory check-up, and by that point, everything still seemed to be perfectly fine with the puppy. The mother told the shelter that they were falling in love with the animal more and more every day. But something ended up changing… After this call, most of the shelter started to forget about Benji rather quickly. The dog had only been with them one day, and there were enough other animals here that needed their undivided attention. Benji should be set for the life they assumed. But sometimes forever is a really short time… It only took 3 weeks before Benji was returned to the shelter by his new owners. The father had come alone with a happy and excited Benji following behind him. He had obviously bonded with the men and had no idea it would be the last time he would see him… The men only gave a vague reason for returning Benji. That was obviously an excuse. Something about that was just not working out as it was constantly too much time. It didn’t make any sense based on what the shelter knew about the family…  The call from 2 weeks ago had sounded so incredibly positive. They reminded the father of that interaction, but he just raised an eyebrow. Stating that he knew nothing of this call and that his wife shared his opinion about returning Benji very much. And sure enough, when one of the shelter personal called the wife they got a very similar response. Because the man had come alone, they suspected that he had maybe taken the puppy away against his family’s wishes, but his wife seemed very much in favor… The shelter decided not to ask too many more questions at that time. If the family was unwilling to care for Benji, then the dog would be better off with them. And they were sure he would find a new owner who would absolutely love him in no time. This had to only be an incident, right?  The first day back in the shelter, Benji seemed to be very down. What, of course, made a lot of sense since he had obviously bonded with the family, and now they had just abandoned him again. So the staff made an extra effort to comfort the puppy for the time he was with them. Which would again prove e to be short… 2 days after Benji was returned, a young couple that had just started living together took notice of the adorable puppy and wanted to adopt him. The shelter was a little more skeptical this time and asked the couple a lot more questions to determine if they were a right fit for Benji. But all the signs pointed in the same direction again. There was not a single red flag to be discovered about the couple, and they seemed perfectly suited to adopt a puppy. Or any kind of dog for that matter, and so the shelter made the adoption happen as soon as possible They did make sure to do a lot more calls to the couple this time to get updates. This meant that this time they saw the return coming as again a first week over very positive messages, things started to drop off quickly after that as the couple seemed a lot less optimistic about their relationship with Benji The last 2 times the shelter called, the couple did not even make the effort to answer them. They just showed up at the end of the day with Benji in their arms. It was not working out, and they figured it would be best if they returned the puppy to them. And once again, an honest reason could not be given by the now ex-owners…  And every adoption that followed would prove that these were not incidents whatsoever. For some reason, it just kept happening. Every time Benji was adopted, he was eventually brought back to the shelter, and within 2 weeks, he was adopted again. The shelter had never seen anything like this before, and they just could not figure out why it was happening. The reasons for returning the poor puppy always seemed too shallow and weak. And they were also so different. At least some of them would have to be lies. Some said Benji had way too much energy, while others claimed he wouldn’t even get out of his bed. Some said that he was aggressive to other dogs, while others said he was too scared of them to go to the park. It just didn’t make any sense…  The shelter was at a loss because what else could they do than put Benji up for adoption again. They could not just keep him at the shelter forever. This poor dog needed to find a forever home, but when he got returned for the 11th time, nobody had any hope left for that.  They had even contacted other shelters at this point in the hopes that they could maybe find suitable owners for Benji, but every time they told the story that he had been returned 11 times already, shelters would back out immediately. This was not a dog they wanted to be dealing with… It was also obvious that this constant horrible cycle started to take its toll on the puppy that everybody at the shelter loved so much. They could just see the sparkle in his eyes shine a little less bright every time he was put back into that case. It was heartbreaking… At this point, Benji was just sitting in the corner of his case, looking sad. His 11th owner finally gave the shelter a return reason that they actually believed. Benji just seemed not to trust him and just seemed unhappy overall. They would believe that all too well… They had also not told this last owner that Benji had already been returned 10 times before because they knew this would turn him away. But they also did not feel right holding this information back any longer. The chances of finding anybody for Bennji grew slimmer by the week… He was also not even a puppy anymore, so the once so popular dog had now even lost that appeal. Now he was just a sad, scared, fully grown dog. And they had so many of those already in the shelter for who they could not find an owner. But then there was one sparkle of hope… Everybody at the shelter just felt like they needed to find a solution to this problem. They all cared so much about this dog, and luckily for them, the solution actually came from a trainee named Stacy, who had been with them only for about 2 weeks. She was studying to become a veterinarian and to train. She volunteered at the shelter for 2 months. When Benji was returned by his most recent owner, it was the first time she laid eyes on the dog, and she instantly fell head over heels in love with him. Even though she had only seen a very sad version of Benji, the person who had been at the shelter longer told her all about how fun Benji had been before. They also told her the truth about Benji being returned 11 times for various reasons. But this didn’t deter Stacy at all. “Their loss,” she remembers thinking about all the stupid previous owners returning Benji to their shelter. She was determined to give this dog the life it so obviously deserved. But she had no idea yet about what she was getting herself into… She still needed to convince her parents about getting a dog as she was still living with them. She was afraid they wouldn’t like the idea, but to her surprise, they were actually completely up for it. Apparently, with the prospect of Stacy moving out soon, they had actually already been thinking about getting another dog. The paperwork was done in order, and Stacy could take Benji home with her that very same day. For Benji, it was now the 12th time he was going through the same routine. He always seemed to be emotionless when he was led out of the cage.  Stacy tried to cheer the dog up with treats, pets, toys, you name it. But nothing seemed to work. Benji was not resisting her taking him away, but she could see that it probably did not really matter to him wether he got adopted or just stayed at the shelter. He knew he would just end up back here anyway… On the ride home, Benji would not even look at Stacy. She knew that there was a lot of work to get this poor dog to trust people again and turn back into the joyful and happy dog he had once been. Stacy was sure she could do it, but this confidence would quickly fade out… When Stacy came home with Benji, her parents were ready to welcome their new addition to the family. Stacy’s father had already gone to the pet store to buy a new bed and bowl. They all were very excited to take care of their new family member. Luckily the family already had a lot of the other dog equipment at home, as Benji was not their first dog. They had 3 more already walking around the house. But his size did make Benji the runt of the pack. But the other dogs seemed very ready to welcome him in! It was a great relief for Stacy and her parents that this process went so smoothly. It could something be a lot of trouble to get a new dog to be accepted by the rest. This was the first hurdle that they managed to pass, but as it would turn out, it would neither be the last nor the biggest… The family immediately noticed that Benji seemed to have trouble playing or interacting with the other dogs. He just kind of stayed in place and looked around a bit. It was as if Benji did not like being there, even though the family took really good care of Benji. They really tried their absolute best. However, the other dogs with the family were not so reserved, and every time they were let out of the room, they quickly started to check out their new friend. Sniffing him like no tomorrow, one of them even brought Benji a toy. Benji’s attitude then changed a little bit. Did he like the attention? All the attention and interaction seemed to cool Benji’s cool demeanor a bit, and he started to engage with the other dogs now. The family made sure to have the rest of the day dedicated to giving Benji the best time. That’s all they could do in their eyes to give Benji the attention he deserved. Right? They went to the park, to the store to pick out a new toy, and even baked a nice steak for Benji. A day in doggy heaven, and it had a big effect on Benji. He was wagging his tail all day. Stacy seemed to enjoy her time with Benji, just like the rest of the family. Benji seemed to like them as well. Would that feeling stay? Within 24 hours, the family had already transformed him back into the enthusiastic puppy that he once was and the family thought they would have a great addition to the family. But then why was Benji returned so much? Was there something they were yet to find out? Stacy wanted to be really excited already, but she did remember everything the shelter had told her about Benji’s p[previous adoptions. And mainly that often the first week or a bit longer went really well, but that things than just started to go wrong for the dog… Stacy knew that they probably still had a very long way to go before they could be sure that they could care for this dog beyond a shadow of a doubt. But with more days passing by, it became hard for the family not to get swept away by all the positive signs… Because the next couple of days, things went fairly normal. Benji seemed to fit seamlessly into the family’s daily routine. Stacy related all the info to the shelter, and they were really happy with the progress. But soon thereafter, something happened… When the family woke up one morning, Benji was suddenly not in bed anymore. They searched the whole house but there was no sign of him. Stacy started to panic. The shelter had trusted her with Benji and she let them down. What was going on? Did Benji run away or did something else happen? She decided to not tell them but instead took a week off so that she could search for Benji. Starting by asking all of her neighbors if they had seen the puppy, but she had no luck. It really looked like Benji disappeared into thin air, he was nowhere to be found. Stacy was extremely hurt by this. After a morning of asking and searching, Benji was still nowhere to be found. Nobody had seen him, apparently so the next logical step was to put up posters. Stacy just hoped that nobody from the shelter would see them. She did not want to let them down after everything. Stacy, of course, still had to go in for work at the shelter, and every day she would get questions about how Benji was doing, and it hurt her like hell to lie about it. She told them it was still going great, as she did not dare to admit that he was gone. She knew she had to find the animal and find him quickly… 2 more days passed. Benji was still gone. The family had put up posters all over the place but had gotten zero response to it. They were coming to a point where Stacy felt like she had no choice but to be honest to the shelter. She finally decided she was ready to call. Then something else happened. But then the phone finally rang. Somebody had found Benji. The caller didn’t seem to want to tell exactly where and how yet, but he sure did sound upset. Stacy was instantly on the edge of her seat, adrenaline was rushing through her veins. What was going on with Benji? The man told her that if she wanted her dog back, she would top come to pick him up, and she would have to do it quickly. He already had half a mind to just bring him to they shelter, but Stacy managed to convince him to wait. She was underway within a minute… A very confused and anxious Stacy drove up to the man’s house. It was almost an hour’s drive away. How did Benji even manage to get this far from home? She was clueless about how Benji pulled this off, at the same time she was curious as well what she would encounter. The man that found him was waiting for Stacy at the front door when he arrived. He was looking very agitated and standing there with his arms crossed. What the hell had Benji done? The man did not seem to move a muscle, Stacy felt a bit scared.  Without saying much, the man took Stacy inside, where he had a very sad-looking Benji locked in a cage. The cage was obviously not meant for a dog, as it was nearly too small for Benji to fit in. How could the man ever think this was acceptable behavior? Stacy wanted to get angry at the man now for locking up this poor puppy. She could not think of anything Benji could have done that would justify this. But then he started explaining what happened, and everything soon became clear. Apparently, Benji had shown up earlier that day. The man had not seen any of the posters yet so he looked around for an owner, but when he couldn’t find anybody, he was going to call the shelter, as Benji was still wearing a collar with their number. He had Benji just walking around the house at the time and he thought that he was dealing with a well-behaved puppy. But then his own cat came along to check out what was happening. Stacy already had a feeling what Benji could have done. Benji suddenly switched at that moment, attacking the man’s cat. He reacted just in time to grab the dog before Benji was able to hurt the cat, who ran off immediately. The man instantly put Benji in his cat cage after that. He felt like it was the only way to keep his cat and Benji safe at the same time. He then called the shelter and explained exactly what had happened. After describing the dog, the shelter told him that he needed to call Stacy as she would come to pick him up and that is what happened. Luckily Benji was not hurt. When Stacy looked at her phone she saw that she had multiple missed calls from the shelter. It was not possible to keep this secret anymore. She took a very sad Benji from the man and deeply apologized to him. She felt like she had to explain herself to the shelter. She then went back to the shelter with Benji. When she arrived Stacy found out that the other employees had already called a lot of the previous owners of Benji to ask if they had any similar experiences with Benji. The results of these calls were eye-opening. Every single one of the previous owners they contacted told them the same story. The actual reason they returned Benji was that he attacked another animal at some point. This made a whole lot of things clear, they finally had a good picture of Benji. What caused this behaviour towards other animals? They had lied about it because they were afraid that if they told the truth, Benji might be put down. And they all loved that dog way too much to have that on their conscience. But to prevent it from happening again under their care, they all brought him back to the shelter.  Now under normal circumstances, Benji would be labeled a dangerous animal and indeed would have been put down, but Stacy and the shelter were not going to let that happen. Now they finally knew what they were dealing with. They also knew that they could help Benji. Benji was going to stay at the shelter for a couple weeks where they started to work on getting him to trust cats more. They were slowly introduced to Benji in a controlled environment. This wasn’t easy, as Benji did not want to cooperate at first, the shelter was persistant. Did this pay off? It was a difficult process but eventually, all the aggression Benji had towards cats was coached out of him and he was given back into the care of Stacy and her family. They were very glad that they got Benji back, he was the dog they always wanted. They gave Benji a lot of love. He thanked them for it. From that moment on, they had no problems with their new dog at all anymore. He became an addition to the family Stacy always knew he could be. Benji had finally found his forever home. No more shelters for Benji at that point, he had everything a dog ever needed.