By Jack BeresfordShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberHeartbreaking footage has emerged of a dog who appears to be “losing hope” after spending more than 450 days at the shelter.
Olivia Decas, a volunteer at the Associated Humane Societies (AHS) Newark Shelter, posted a video to her TikTok, @movingwithmutts, introducing followers to one of the facility’s longest-serving canine residents, Randy.
Decas volunteers at the shelter twice a week and is a passionate advocate for dogs like Randy. “The dogs at the shelter mean so much to me,” she told Newsweek. “The best part of my week is making sure they get a moment of joy.”
Sadly, joy has been in short supply for Randy of late. He’s desperate for someone to give him a chance. He needs a forever home. But for as long as he can remember, he’s been in the shelter. “He is about 3 years old so he has been at the shelter for half of his life,” Decas said. “He really hasn’t known anything besides the shelter.”
Though everyone at the shelter does their very best by Randy, he’s now clocked up over 450 days there, and Decas can see it is beginning to take a toll on him. “During his time at the shelter he has grown increasingly anxious and has put on a lot of weight,” she said. “The shelter is no place for a dog to grow up.”
Further proof, if needed, of the toll it has taken can be found in Decas’s TikTok video. The seven-second clip captures what Decas describes in the caption as “the face of a dog who is losing hope.” “My heart is breaking for Randy,” Decas wrote alongside the video. “He has been waiting since August of 2024!!! He needs someone who will help him decompress and let him know he is safe.”
Sadly, at the time of writing, that special someone has yet to materialize. Decas has a few theories as to why that is the case.
...“Black dogs historically get overlooked at the shelter which I think plays a big role in why Randy has been waiting so long,” she said. “His size and his strength, while are qualities that make him amazing, might intimidate people.”
Randy certainly fits the profile of a long-term shelter dog. In 2021, a study published in the journal Animals saw researchers attempt to pin down the shared characteristics of dogs who spend 12 months or more in a shelter.
Researchers found they were often “male, of large size, neutered, and of a ‘dangerous breed.’” The same study noted that while long-term shelter dogs are not suffering physically as a result of their extended stays, they do exhibit “stress-related behaviors” that indicate the environment is taking its toll.
That’s undoubtedly been the case for Randy as far as Decas sees it. “Randy is growing incredibly anxious in at the shelter and the worry is that people will take that at face value instead of seeing the sweet fun loving boy we all do.”
As someone who has spent time with Randy, Decas is better placed than most to explain what kind of home he would be best suited to.
“Randy would do best in a home where he can be the only pet. He is going to need someone who is going to love him and take time to understand him,” she said. “After over a year in the kennel he will need someone who can teach him how to be a dog.”
Anyone who might be willing to provide that should contact AHS Newark
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