When Cinnamon, a red nose Pitbull, was surrendered to the Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control shelter in North Carolina, her spirit was shattered.
She had been abandoned without her puppies, and whenever anyone spoke to her, tears welled up in her eyes.
One volunteer noticed her heartbreaking condition and decided to record a short video to share on Facebook.
Just 48 hours later, Cinnamon’s entire life changed.
Cry Of A Broken Soul
Sarah Jennings Sleime, a regular volunteer for the Greater Charlotte SPCA, decided one Saturday to stop by animal control to check on a few dogs. She had no idea that one special dog would touch her heart so deeply.
“I walked the kennels and a pit bull caught my eye… she was sitting up, kind of slumped-over, almost human-like,” Sleime wrote on Instagram.
It was clear Cinnamon had recently given birth. Her body showed signs of having many litters, but her puppies were nowhere to be seen.
“[The shelter workers] believe she was confined and used as a breeding machine. She’s obviously had many, many litters,” Sleime told The Dodo.
When Sleime bent down to comfort her, Cinnamon’s eyes filled with tears every time.
“It was the craziest phenomenon,” Sleime recalled.
At the time, the SPCA couldn’t take in large dogs without foster homes. Still, Sleime felt compelled to do something for Cinnamon.
“I snapped some video footage of her ‘crying’ and posted it to Facebook. 48 hours later, that video has been viewed 1 MILLION times and shared by 20k people,” Sleime wrote.
Within a single day, her inbox overflowed with hundreds of messages from people asking about Cinnamon.
So many families wanted to give this sweet dog a new beginning filled with love instead of sadness.
A Family Steps Forward
Among those moved by Cinnamon’s story was Sleime’s friend, Meghan Connor Shelton, from Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I have a special place in my heart for pit bulls. I think they’re a very misunderstood dog and a misunderstood breed. And when I saw her in that video, literally crying in a cage, I cried. My kids cried. I showed my husband, and he said we could go look at her tomorrow,” Shelton told The Dodo.
The following morning, Shelton and her family were first in line to meet Cinnamon.
The moment they saw her, they fell in love. “It was love at first sight. She just kind of pulled at our heartstrings,” Shelton said.
They quickly completed the adoption paperwork. Once Cinnamon, now renamed Rosie, was spayed, she finally went home with her new family.
A New Beginning For Rosie
The Sheltons already had a three-year-old Pitbull named Blu. At first, they weren’t sure how the two would react to each other, especially considering Rosie’s past trauma. But to their relief, the introduction went beautifully.
“It was interesting because you never know how it’s going to go, but they just kind of sat next to each other with tails wagging,” Shelton explained.
Before long, Rosie and Blu became inseparable. It was as if they had been lifelong companions.
As Rosie settled into her new home, her playful personality started to shine. According to her new family, one of her funniest quirks is that “when she gets excited, she snorts like a pig.”
Rosie’s viral video not only brought her a forever home, it also saved the lives of many other shelter dogs.
“Small acts have a big impact: Not only was this sweet dog, Cinnamon, adopted the next morning, but other families who came to adopt her saved other dogs at the shelter, freeing up kennels for strays and owner surrenders waiting in the back who would have certainly been euthanized as the shelter is full,” Sleime said.
One simple photo or video can reach millions and change countless lives.