Grieving man goes to shelter to adopt a dog – ends up adopting group of senior animals instead
Accountant Steve Grieg has always been an animal lover, thanks to his parents. And the Colorado man is used to living with pets.
“I grew up with a lot of pets,” he told The Dodo. “Both my parents were animal lovers and they pretty much always let me have whatever I wanted as long as I could take care of it.”
A few years ago, when he lost a beloved dog, he had a very hard time getting over it. Grieg decided that he wanted to make something good out of it and pay tribute to the animal in some constructive way, so he decided to go to his local shelter and ask for their “least adoptable” dog.
He explained:
“A month or two went by and I still felt so horrible about it. I decided that the only way I would feel better was if something good happened that probably wouldn’t have happened if he had not died.”
As a result, a dog that would have lived out its final days in a shelter got to go to a loving home. Grieg adopted an elderly chihuahua named Eeyore. The pup had had a heart murmur and 4 bad knees.
Seeing Eeyore thrive in his new home convinced Grieg that he could do even more good for unwanted animals – and these days, his large property holds quite the menagerie.
He calls them the “Wolf Gang” and, as you might have guessed, they have their very own Instagram account.
In fact, the gang is Instagram-famous with over 868,000 followers.
How could they not with a pack of dogs, chickens, bunnies, and even a pig in the group?!
The animals get along so sweetly that it’s hard not to scroll through all 1,000+ photos.
Grieg even recently adopted a turkey named Tofu!
And how could anyone resist watching a chicken named Oprah ride a Roomba around the house?
This is pure Instagram gold!
Not every day is perfect, but for the most part, there’s a lot of interspecies friendship.
Despite his gang of animals needing lots of care, Grieg is still an accountant and goes to work every day. But, of course, he finds time each day to make sure his pets all have the space, attention, diet, medications, and exercise they need to be happy and healthy.
Back when the Wolf Pack was a mere 10 dogs, his days already sounded quite exhausting:
“A normal day for me is getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning and making breakfast for all of them, which, you know, there’s 10 [dogs] and most of them have different diets.”
Now there’s even more work to do and pets to check on, but after getting them all squared away in the morning, he comes back home for lunch to be with them, take them outside, and give them treats.
It’s probably pretty hard to leave this behind until later in the evening:
His weekends are no less busy, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. Vet and grooming appointments are handled and playtime is scheduled, but Grieg still finds time to just relax with his pets.
And while it’s a full house, that hasn’t stopped him from adopting more – like Bikini. After all, she came both dog-friendly and house-trained:
“I just thought, ‘I’m not going to have much of a better chance getting a pet pig,'” he told The Dodo.
She’s pretty sure she’s a dog anyway, so she fits right in.
Because most of his animals are elderly or have health issues, Grieg says there’s lots of quiet time in the house.
In fact, it’s a pretty low-energy environment with lots of cuddling and napping.
In a phone conversation with The Dodo in 2016, he said he was spending the day lounging on his porch, enjoying the company of his furry family:
“Bikini’s laying in the yard and the dogs are all laying around the yard. They just make it feel like home. It’s just fulfilling knowing that these guys are happy and loved and well-taken care of. It makes my days worthwhile.”
Be sure to follow the adventures of this ever-growing family on Instagram by clicking here.
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Source: The Animal Rescue Site, The Dodo, wolfgang2242 on Instagram