“You know how people say love should be easy? Well Tahini was just easy. Her personality is fantastic, she has these quirks that can make anyone smile.” –Rachel F. of New York, NY

We first met Tahini in August 2015, when she was brought into the ASPCA by NYPD officers after being found tied up in a park without food or water. The Good Samaritan that discovered Tahini noted that she had been left there for an extended period of time. Abandoned without much hope, the seven-year-old pit bull mix eventually proved to everyone that there wasn’t much that could keep her down.

During her intake at the ASPCA Animal Hospital (AAH), the veterinary team noted that Tahini was suffering from hypothyroidism (an under-active thyroid gland), and arthritis in a few of her joints. Fortunately for Tahini, these conditions are common in dogs and are both easily controlled, and everyone at the AAH noticed that the happy-go-lucky pup wasn’t going to let anything slow her down. 

After a few weeks, Tahini was soon able to move onto the ASCPA Adoption Center, where everyone was certain that she would find the perfect home. Over the next four months, Tahini became a shelter favorite and was known to everyone as a lovable goofball, full of energy and life. Nothing of her past abandonment seemed to stick with the resilient dog. 

In January 2016, Tahini caught the eye of an adopter, and everyone at the Adoption Center hoped that this would be the one she’d been waiting for. Unfortunately, Tahini’s search for a home did not end there, and she was returned to the Adoption Center in July when the adopter had to move. Later that year, Tahini would go to another home, only to find her way back to the ASPCA just before the holidays in December 2016.

Though we were sad to see Tahini returned, it seemed to the staff and volunteers at the Adoption Center that surely, her happy ending was coming soon. She just needed the right person to come along.

Fortunately for sweet Tahini, that person was not far off. After her second return, Tahini was sent to live with a foster named Rachel F. for the next few months. Rachel had been a foster for the ASPCA for nearly two years when she met Tahini, and at the time, she had no plans to adopt. However, fostering Tahini changed everything for Rachel. 

“While fostering Tahini, I just fell in love with her,” Rachel says. She also tells us, that at the time she met Tahini, she was dealing with some personal struggles. “Having a dog was an invaluable part of my recovery process.”

So it seemed, that Rachel and Tahini were able to save each other in a sense, and give the other the thing they each needed most: unconditional love.

Rachel made the adoption official in March 2017, and according to her, things couldn’t have been more perfect. “You know how people say love should be easy? Well Tahini was just easy,” Rachel tells us. “She was sweet, well behaved and potty trained! Her personality is fantastic, she has these quirks that can make anyone smile.” 

Rachel also tells us that she changed Tahini's name to Rose, after a favorite, silly-natured television character, and that he adjustment to her home was instantaneous. Rose loves Rachel’s resident cat, and the pair love to lay in the sun together in the mornings.

Rose’s infallible spirit and sweet, kind-hearted nature reminds us that there is a beloved pet in every animal. They are just searching for the right one to love.

You can create a Happy Tail like Rose and Rachel’s by adopting a dog from your local shelter today.