Looking at Omar today, one would never guess that the goofy, grinning dog has been through so much. But the truth is that after being adopted and returned several times, this Shar-Pei/pit bull mix has experienced many ups-and-downs in his seven-and-a-half years. Thankfully, after a long and winding journey, Omar has finally found a loving home that will last a lifetime. Here is his Happy Tail.

We first met Omar all the way back in 2008, when he was just four weeks old. He was part of an unplanned litter, and he and six other puppies were surrendered to the ASPCA. We knew that the precious pups would have no trouble finding a home, and they even made an appearance in one of our earliest YouTube videos:

Omar was soon adopted, but sadly, that wasn’t the last we would see of the big brindle dog. In June 2015, Omar’s adopter returned him after more than seven years together. Her son had developed asthma and was allergic to Omar. It broke our hearts to see him returned after all those years in a home, but we were happy to see him adopted again just a month later. Unfortunately, that, too, did not last—three weeks later, he was returned due to landlord issues.

By this point, it was September 2015 and Omar was 57-lbs., seven years old and suffering from a bad knee. We performed a ligament operation on Omar at the ASPCA Animal Hospital, then we hoped upon hope that the sweet dog would find a loving, stable home. Thankfully, it wasn’t much longer before Omar met Christine.

Christine initially took Omar in as a foster dog because she wanted to help him in his time of need, but it wasn’t long until the foster became “forever.” “Omar stole our hearts,” says Christine. “We decided to adopt him because he was so awesome!” In the eight months since, he has confirmed what we all knew all along: that he is an ideal pet.

“Omar is the perfect balance of playful, calm and loving,” Christine tell us. “We are so happy with our decision to give him a forever home.” Christine also reports that Omar is very attached to his new home and loves his new life. “The idea of Omar not having a loving family was not an option,” she says, and we couldn’t agree more.