Animals at the shelter can only hope to find a new loving forever home, as the majority of sheltered animals usually aren’t so lucky. Reggie, however, a big black labrador, recently found a new owner – but they really didn’t get along.

Reggie’s new owner was about to return the pooch to the shelter but everything changed when he read a note left behind by the dog original owner.

The owner still recalls visiting the shelter to adopt a new family member, and his impression of the shelter was excellent.

“They told me the big black Lab’s name was Reggie, as I looked at him lying in his pen,” he wrote. “The shelter was clean, no-kill, and the people really friendly. I’d only been in the area for six months, but everywhere I went in the small college town, people were welcoming and open. Everyone waves when you pass them on the street.”

At first, everyone seemed to get along nicely. The new owner, the shelter staff and Reggie himself – it seemed like one of those adoptions that would go flawlessly.

The new owner took Reggie home, and the shelter gave them some tennis balls (which he absolutely adores) and also a letter from the owner.

However, the relationship between Reggie and his new owner started to take a turn for the worse.

Apparently, the four-footer downright refused any command when his name was called, and the two have had a couple of bad experiences that didn’t help their bonding at all.

“This just wasn’t going to work,” the new owner recalls. “He chewed a couple shoes and some unpacked boxes. I was a little too stern with him and he resented it, I could tell.”

He made the decision to return Reggie to the shelter.

He was looking for the shelter number and while going through Reggie’s things, he also found the letter of the owner which he completely forgot about. Of course, he decided to read the letter since it was addressed to the new owner, and that changed everything.

The letter revealed a number of different things, and some of them were quite shocking to read.

It instantly changed the man’s mind to return the dog to the shelter.

It turns out that the dog’s name wasn’t Reggie at all, and the letter explains the complicated story behind it.

“To whoever gets my dog,” the letter starts. “Well, I can’t say that I’m happy you’re reading this, a letter I told the shelter could only be opened by Reggie’s new owner. I’m not even happy writing it. If you’re reading this, it means I just got back from my last car ride with my Lab after dropping him off at the shelter. He knew something was different. (…)

The owner then proceeds to tell more about the pup, his feeding schedule, the commands he knows, what he likes to play with and so on.

However, in the middle of the letter, the original owner – soldier Paul Mallory – reveals something shocking.

“(…) this transition is going to be hard, with him going to live with someone new. And that’s why I need to share one more bit of info with you… His name’s not Reggie. I don’t know what made me do it, but when I dropped him off at the shelter, I told them his name was Reggie. He’s a smart dog, he’ll get used to it and will respond to it, of that I have no doubt. But I just couldn’t bear to give them his real name. For me to do that, it seemed so final, that handing him over to the shelter was as good as me admitting that I’d never see him again.”

The pup’s real name was Tank – and that immediately explains why Tank and his new owner got off on the wrong foot and why he was disobedient.

The soldier only had one request for the new owner, and it’s a heartwarming one.

“Good luck with Tank. Give him a good home, and give him an extra kiss goodnight – every night – from me,” he wrote.

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Source: PawMyGosh