Sweet Martin just wanted a place to call home.

People love cute dogs, and cute, adorable dogs are usually the first ones adopted at shelters.

But there’s one cute dog at the SPCA of Wake County who has not had the same luck. His name is Martin. Martin is a senior dog, who was given up by his senior dad who could not care for him anymore at his old age.

“His [dad] was 89 years old and reached a point where he couldn’t provide the life that he felt Martin deserved,” Samantha Ranlet, marketing communications specialist at SPCA, told The Dodo. “He wanted a better life for him.”

It was a valid reason albeit a very sad one.

Martin is not a young dog anymore, and he needs someone who can take care of him and his needs. And that was his former dad’s wish, too, that Martin will go to a home where he will be able to live his last days comfortably.

And you know what, it seems Martin knows that and understands his dad’s decision.

“He adjusted pretty well,” Ranlet said. “I don’t know if he understood what was going on, but even from day one, he was just this happy, easy-going, really sweet old man with a teddy bear face.”

Unfortunately, Martin has not had the best of luck with his adopters.

He was adopted but always returned. In fact, he has been returned seven times in the past two months that he’s been in the shelter.

Caring for senior dogs is not easy and they most likely realized that when they took Martin home. And he’s also heartworm positive.

But the staff at the shelter have not given up. They knew Martin’s future family is out there.

So they did the next best thing.

They posted about Martin on their Facebook page to find his new family.

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“Martin really is the bestest boy. His former owner said he is extremely gentle, especially with kids — Martin used [to] cuddle up with their grandkids so they could lie their heads on him for a nap. He’s great with people of all ages, including seniors, gets along with dogs of all sizes and energy levels, and is housetrained and crate-trained. Martin is a bit hard of hearing (he’s 10 years old), but he still knows some tricks and loves being rewarded with treats,” they wrote on their Facebook post.

And do you know what? It worked!

The post went viral and received almost 3,000 shares. Needless to say, in less than 48 hours, the application for his adoption was maxed out.

And one of these applications came from a couple who had taken care of senior dogs.

“They weren’t afraid of his age and they weren’t afraid of the fact that he had heartworm disease,” Ranlet shared. “They just fell in love with him and his teddy bear energy.”

It’s funny, too, because the post made Martin super popular:

“…right after Martin’s family left the SPCA and took him down to the pet store, the pet store employees recognized him immediately and said, ‘Is that Martin?!’” SPCA of Wake County shared on their Facebook post.

Although the SPCA of Wake County staff misses Martin every day, they’re so grateful and happy that he’s finally living in his new home.

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