The pet rescue organization Anti-Cruelty Society took to Facebook the next day, explaining that Elvis was delivered to them as a stray with a fractured pelvis, which had since healed.
“He met a lot of potential adopters, but sadly did not get adopted,” the Nov. 14 submit learn.
“Elvis is a 3-year-old meatball that has the silliest personality,” the submit continued. “His giant smile lights up every room he enters. Elvis is a snuggler, so he hopes you are okay giving up your personal space.”
The submit additionally famous that Elvis, a pit bull-terrier combine, had been potty-trained and crate-trained, however would in all probability be liable to arthritis sooner or later as a consequence of his fracture.
Drew Wilhelm couldn’t consider his eyes when he noticed a narrative on Chicago WGN9 about Elvis. He despatched it to his accomplice, Loren Agron. The couple had talked about adopting a canine, however had been nonetheless mulling over the thought.
Agron stated he was enthusiastic about the pictures of Elvis smiling together with his tongue hanging out. But the true cause he felt a sudden connection to Elvis is that Agron was an Elvis impersonator.
Agron, 39, is a supervisor at Ed Debevic’sa Nineteen Fifties-themed diner identified for snarky waitstaff and choreographed dance numbers on the soda counter. When he labored as a waiter on the restaurant from 2005 to 2007, Agron dressed up as Elvis Presley and referred to as himself “Elvis Parsley.”
“I wore a black cowboy shirt and quintessential giant Elvis sunglasses, I had long sideburns and my hair was all pomped up and slicked back,” he stated. “I’d get up onstage in the diner and sing ‘Teddy Bear’ to entertain all the customers.”
“Elvis has always been a big part of my life because I’ve always loved music from that era,” he added.
Agron went to the shelter the next day to fulfill Elvis. They performed round on the ground with Elvis’s favourite toy, a stuffed moose with tennis balls for ft.
“I loved him immediately,” Agron stated. “Having a pup named Elvis seemed like a perfect fit.”
Agron returned to the shelter to introduce Elvis to Wilhelm, his accomplice for the previous yr and a half.
“While we were sitting in the waiting room to meet him, I felt like a father waiting for his newborn son to arrive,” stated Wilhelm, 43, supervisor of a Chicago cocktail lounge.
“As soon as I saw him, I knew that was our dog,” he stated.
“He couldn’t stop jumping on us, he was so excited we were there to see him,” Wilhelm stated.
He and Agron adopted Elvis that day, Nov. 17, prompting the Anti-Cruelty Society to post on Facebook that “Elvis has LEFT the building!”
When the pair took Elvis home to their two-bedroom house close to Lake Michigan’s Foster Beach, the pup sniffed round and left little doubt that he was “The King,” stated Wilhelm, referring to certainly one of Presley’s nicknames.
“The anxiety of the shelter just melted away,” Wilhelm stated. “We learned right away that Elvis loves to lounge. He took free range of every chair in the apartment, plus the bed.”
Elvis made it identified that he cherished peanut butter and something bacon flavored, stated Agron. Those additionally had been a few of Elvis the singer’s famously favorite foods.
“Even though he waited a long time in the shelter, we’re glad he wasn’t adopted, because he’s our family now,” he stated.
He and Wilhelm have settled into a cushty routine with their pup, taking him on walks, taking part in fetch and tug-of-war and enjoyable collectively on the couch when Elvis doesn’t declare it for himself.
“He’s just an adorable goofball,” Wilhelm stated. “We love how he’s made himself at home.”
Staffers on the Anti-Cruelty Society are additionally thrilled that Elvis now has a home.
“We were all so sad for Elvis when he was the only one left after our ‘Fall in Love’ waived adoption fee event,” stated Rachel Klousnitzer, senior director of selling and communications for the animal nonprofit.
“We’re grateful that people all over the country are now invested in Elvis’s story, and we can’t stress enough that we see dogs like Elvis waiting for their forever homes every day,” she added.
Wilhelm stated he hopes to maintain the Elvis momentum going, and that folks will take into consideration whether or not adopting a pet is true for them.
“When nobody wanted Elvis, we took him home, and I’m so glad we did,” Wilhelm stated. “Even though he only leaves me a sliver of the bed.”
