For the past year, Kayla Filoon, 20, has volunteered as a dog walker for the Philadelphia animal shelter ACCT Philly. She loves walking the shelter dogs, but one special pup stole her heart (and has become quite the Internet celebrity in the process).
Meet Russ, a 4-year-old pit bull.
When he arrived at the shelter he was in rough shape.
He had patches of fur missing and weighed only 40 pounds, Filoon told The Dodo.
Despite his rough exterior, Russ proved to be a very smart, loving dog. But Filoon was worried. When she came to check on Russ one day, she noticed he hadn't moved and was very quiet. So she took him for a walk and immediately fell in love with him. ​
"He seemed like such a sweet dog, and he didn't bark at any of the other dogs," Filoon told The Dodo.
When she finished walking Russ, she called her mom and told her she needed to adopt the dog. Because she'd previously gushed about other dogs from the shelter, her mom thought she was kidding. But overcrowding at the shelter (which had recently resulted in the euthanization of 15 dogs) made his adoption top priority for Filoon.
After class the next day, she returned to the shelter to spend time with Russ. Then she took him for a ride in her car, which sealed the deal. She went back to the shelter and began the adoption process.
Lucky for Filoon, her six roommates took to Russ, who slept a lot as he recovered from a cough.
In the photo that made them famous, Filoon was working on homework when Russ climbed up on the couch to make himself comfortable. There was plenty of other empty space (including his bed), but he wanted to be near Filoon. Filoon hopes the viral photo encourages other people to adopt shelter dogs.
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