Every single day spent in a shelter is torture for a dog. No matter how pet-friendly the shelter may be, it is not the right place for a creature whose need for love and warm hugs from their favorite person is almost as essential as food and water.

Now, imagine the overwhelming despair of a dog who has spent nearly four years in such a cold and lonely place. Although it may sound unbelievable, this is the reality for many dogs today.

One such dog is Elle, who arrived at a shelter in Austin, Texas, in December, nearly four years ago.

Over time, Elle began to lose hope that she would ever experience the warmth of a loving home. However, one shelter employee who spent the most time with her did not.

She Did Not Give Up On Her

Throughout her stay at Austin Pets Alive (APA!), a shelter in Texas, Elle was quite nervous, especially at the beginning. However, that did not stop her from creating friendships with almost everyone at the shelter.

She fell in love with one person in particular, and that was Kaitlan Warmbrod, a dog behavior training supervisor, who also adored Elle. There, this woman clearly saw that Elle just needed someone to whom she would give all the love in her heart.

“We clicked so quickly,” Kaitlan told The Dodo. “When I first met her, it was when I first started at APA!. We started by playing fetch, and when I went to leave, she got sad and fell into my lap. She normally would take some time to warm up to people, but she was attached to me. After that, I became so invested because I didn’t understand why she was in the shelter so long.”

Kaitlan put all her energy into helping this dog find forever happiness. After a while, it paid off for her because someone finally noticed Elle and fell in love with her.

Everyone in the shelter was impatiently waiting for her final day, especially Kaitlan who couldn’t even imagine the amount of happiness it would bring to Elle.

A Goodbye Party Full Of Emotions

Source: John-Carlos Estrada CBS Austin

A man named John was very touched by the fact that Elle spent so long at the shelter. After he saw her in the social media posts, he contacted the shelter staff at APA! and arranged a meeting with the dog.

After coming to the shelter several times to be with Elle so that she could get used to him, he finally decided to give her a foster home.

Although it would have been better if it was a forever one, Kaitlan and other shelter employees were still happy and decided to organize a goodbye party for their longest resident.

They knew that Elle would be over the moon when she realized that it was her last party at the shelter, but even they could not imagine that it would be to this extent. Namely, Elle wasn’t just over the moon… she lost her mind out of happiness.

Source: John-Carlos Estrada CBS

The peak of the party was a goodbye cake made of peanut butter that made these incredible moments even more beautiful.

After Elle left the shelter in Austin, Texas, Kaitlan and other shelter employees thought they couldn’t be happier at that moment.

That was before they got the call from John who said that he was officially on the foster-to-adopt track, hoping to keep Elle forever!