10/08/2026
Every superhero has a story. This one is about Cheerio. ❤️🐾
If you’ve followed our adventures at the APL for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve met Cheerio. This will be the fourth time we’ve shared him on our page, but this time we want to tell you a little something about him that you probably don’t know.
Cheerio is 9 years old, and he’s spent far too much of his life waiting for someone to call his own. Somewhere along the way, without ever knowing it, he became one of the most important dogs we’ve had the privilege of spending time with.
When we first started visiting the APL, we didn’t really know what we were doing. We knew we loved dogs, we wanted to help, and we figured if sharing a few pictures could get even one dog noticed, it would be worth our time. We certainly never imagined what those visits would eventually turn into, and Cheerio played a pretty big part in helping us figure that out.
Cheerio helped us learn how to do what we do today. How to look beyond the kennel and really get to know the dog standing in front of us. How to capture those goofy little moments that show their personalities, and how to tell their stories in a way that makes people stop scrolling long enough to actually get to know them. With his ridiculous little dances and goofy personality, Cheerio helped us find our own way of doing things. In a lot of ways, he became the unofficial poster child for our visits to the shelter.
And because of what we learned through Cheerio, we’ve been able to introduce so many other dogs to people who might never have known they existed. Some of those dogs have found their families, while others are still waiting. But we’d like to think that every story we’ve shared since those early visits has a little piece of Cheerio in it. He helped us discover that we could do more than just take pictures of dogs. We could actually make a difference.
And the part that really gets to us is that through all of this, Cheerio is still there. He’s watched other dogs come and go, he’s been there for countless visits, and he’s helped us become better at something that has given other dogs a chance to be seen. Yet somehow, we still haven’t found the person who’s meant to see him.
During our most recent visit, something about Cheerio seemed different. The goofy, dancing boy we’ve come to know and love just didn’t seem quite himself. He was quieter than usual, a little more distant, and that familiar excitement just wasn’t there like it normally is. Maybe he was just having an off day, and we really hope that’s all it was. But we’d be lying if we said it didn’t bother us. It’s hard to spend time with a dog like Cheerio, knowing how long he’s been waiting, and not wonder what all that time has been like for him.
One thing we’ve learned from spending time at the shelter is that these dogs have absolutely no idea what happens after we leave. They don’t know how many people have seen their pictures or watched their videos. They don’t know when they’ve made someone laugh, brightened somebody’s day, or convinced a family to come meet a dog. They have no idea how many people they’ve touched without ever meeting them. And Cheerio certainly doesn’t know how much he’s helped us or how many other dogs have benefited from what he taught us.
To us, Cheerio has been something of a quiet little superhero. Not because he’s done anything extraordinary in the way people usually think of superheroes, but because he’s helped us accomplish something we never really expected when we started this. He’s been a part of so many stories, and whether he knows it or not, he’s made a difference in the lives of other dogs.
But here’s the thing. Cheerio isn’t a superhero. He’s just a dog. A nine-year-old dog who deserves to spend his remaining years somewhere other than a shelter. He deserves a soft bed, a warm home, and someone who looks forward to seeing him every day. Someone who gets to laugh at those goofy little dances in their own living room, who learns all his quirks, and who loves him just as much on the days when he doesn’t feel like dancing.
He deserves to be someone’s first choice. Not because he’s helped us, not because we’ve shared him four times, and not because his story might make someone emotional. He deserves it simply because he’s Cheerio, and that should be more than enough.
We’ve spent a lot of time hoping that our visits might help change a dog’s life. We never expected that one of those dogs would end up changing the way we approached helping all the others. But Cheerio did exactly that, and we will always be grateful for what this goofy little guy has unknowingly given us.
Now we’d really like the opportunity to give something back to him. We don’t want to make a fifth post about Cheerio still waiting at the shelter. We want to make a post about Cheerio finally going home. We want to see that goofy little dance again, only this time because he’s leaving with someone who saw everything we’ve seen in him all along.
Cheerio has spent so much of his life being our quiet little superhero, helping us give other dogs a voice while waiting for someone to hear his own story.
But Cheerio doesn’t need to be anybody’s superhero anymore.
He’s waiting for his Superman. ❤️
Someone who will look at a nine-year-old shelter dog and see all the love he still has left to give instead of the years that have already passed. Someone who will give him the opportunity to spend his remaining years knowing what it feels like to truly belong to someone.
And when that day finally comes, we hope Cheerio never has to wonder whether someone is coming back for him again. Because he’ll already be home.
Cheerio is waiting at the Ashtabula County APL, and if you’ve ever enjoyed one of our shelter stories, smiled at one of our videos, or shared a dog we’ve introduced you to, we’re asking you to please share this one.
Because so much of what we’ve been able to do started with Cheerio, and we can’t think of a dog more deserving of finally getting his own happy ending. ❤️🐾
