Dog named Bean spent nearly a decade in Florida shelter. Now she’s ‘living her best life’
A dog with a “beautiful senior soul” is finally heading to a new home after spending nearly a decade at a Florida animal shelter.
Bean, an 11-year-old black lab mix, was Animal Refuge Center’s “longest resident” before finding her new foster owner, the Fort Myers no-kill shelter said in a Monday, Sept. 25, Facebook post. Leading up to the celebratory day, Bean was a few months shy of being at the shelter for 10 years.
Larry Denmark saw Bean’s photo on the center’s website and started to make trips to the shelter to visit her, the post said. After becoming “fast friends,” Denmark took Bean in as her new foster owner.
Although the shelter said it would miss Bean, it couldn’t be more thrilled to see her “living her best life,” the post says.
Several people thanked Denmark and Animal Refuge Center on Facebook for giving Bean a second chance outside shelter life.
“Thank you, Larry. This is what those of us that work in rescue live for. Animals like Bean and people like you. Happy trails,” one commentor said.
“Beyond happy for sweet beanie girl..this post made me cry happy tears for her..she should never have been at arc for 10 years..thankfully she has a wonderful and loving real home now for her last years..” another wrote.
Bean was described as an “extremely loving, affectionate and intelligent girl,” on the shelter’s website. One of her favorite pastimes is splashing around in her wading pool, a 2018 Facebook post said, as well as playing in the backyard.
It takes Bean time to warm up to new people, the website says, so those interested in her needed to visit her a couple times before choosing to adopt.
“If she loves you though, she loves you forever,” the website says.
The shelter posted several times on Facebook over the years encouraging people to consider adopting Bean into their home as a new companion. In 2018, Animal Refuge Center said in a Facebook post it was trying “for a long time to find the right home for Bean” but with no luck.
Around Christmas every few years, the shelter would post Bean to show that she still needed a home during the holiday season.
“She’s too cute for just one picture..... please help make Bean’s Christmas wish come true! She promises she’s been a very good girl! Santa will vouch for her,” the 2020 post said.
The shelter vowed that it would “never give up that search” to find Bean a home after promising it was out there somewhere for her, a 2020 Facebook post said.
Now Bean’s wish is granted.
This story was originally published September 26, 2023 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Dog named Bean spent nearly a decade in Florida shelter. Now she’s ‘living her best life’."
