After spending more than 1,000 nights in a kennel, Bentley, a 100-pound American bulldog, has finally shed his title of the Pennsylvania SPCA’s longest resident.
“I came home today and found him rolling over and over and over again on the couch,” said Britney Kennedy, 32, who adopted 7-year-old Bentley with husband Doug Bobrow, 32, a month ago. “We’ve come to learn he loves any kind of soft fabric since he’s been living in a concrete cell for three years.”
Bentley was rescued by the PSPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement Team. He was abandoned and tied to a tree. After settling in at the shelter, he remained reserved, and at times, intimidating. The shelter’s behavior coordinators had an inkling he would do better if he weren’t kennel-bound.
So the staff started letting Bentley wander the office area. In a couple of months, his cuddly personality started to shine through.
Unfortunately, Bentley continued to growl and bark at visitors.
In April, PSPCA staff launched a “Tuesdays with Bentley” campaign to share his story. In July, Kennedy and Bobrow caught a video clip of him on a TV station.
“We weren’t really looking for a new dog but had already set a rule for one in the future: A dog had to be at a shelter for at least three months before we’d consider it,” said Bobrow. “Bentley fit the bill, so we decided to just go see him. He barked at us initially, but by the end of that visit, he was rolling around with drool flying out of his mouth, and it was clear he was just a big happy dog.”