Dog – Two months ago, a golden retriever named Hero was living on the streets of Istanbul. At the time, Chuck and Lisa Taylor were looking for a friend for their one-eyed golden rescue named Jack.

“Rescue dogs make the world’s greatest companions. I’m convinced that they know,” Chuck Taylor said. “There’s something really special about rescuing a dog.”

Hero and 35 of his golden friends were rescued from Istanbul from the streets and shelters by Adopt a Golden Atlanta. They flew them to Atlanta, where they are now finding each dog a forever home.

The Taylors passed an extensive vetting process from the rescue group and were invited to adoption day. When they met Hero, they fell in love. “Rescuing a dog is a little bit different than going out and buying a purebred dog, there’s no question about that.” Taylor said. “It makes you feel good, it makes your heart feel good. You know that you’re doing something good for the world and the community and for the dog that needed rescuing.”

Hero’s handler told Taylor that 1-year-old Hero had never let anyone rub his belly before. But when Taylor walked into his pen, Hero rolled right over for a belly rub.

Well this is wonderful. Tell me with a straight face you wouldn’t watch a sitcom featuring Hero the rescue dog and Jack the one eyed golden. I’d literally pay money to just watch them get into various hijinks throughout the day. Besides all the necessary television sitcom jokes (seriously, someone make this show) this is just a really heartwarming story. If you live in the US you see dogs in a certain light. They’re lovable pets and people who treat them otherwise are blood thirsty monsters. In other parts of the world, they’re not seen like that, and you have cases where so many dogs are left to survive on their own. Hearing Hero’s story have a happy ending is great, and organizations like Adopt A Golden deserve all the credit they get. With that said, if Hero and one eyed Jack don’t have a joint Instagram page by the end of the day I’ll consider this day a huge loss.

– Ryan