A wide-eyed husky who was given up by a breeder because she looked “weird" has been adopted after spending two years at a shelter.
Four-year-old Jubilee shot to internet stardom last week when a Facebook post about her from New Jersey-based shelter Husky House went viral.
The post read:
“I came from a 'breeder' who couldn't sell me because he said I was 'weird' looking."
“Huskies are majestic looking dogs and I don't know why I don't look like them. I wish I was beautiful so someone would want me to be their dog."
Husky House had posted many times over the years about Jubilee, whose unusual appearance is the result of a congenital condition which does not otherwise affect her.
But last week's post really took off.
It was shared nearly 50,000 times on Facebook, while one of the images received 125,000 upvotes on Reddit after a user posted it with a caption saying Jubilee “just happens to look like bad taxidermy."
“Timing really is everything," Marielle DiMartino, a volunteer at Husky House, told the PA news agency. “We've obviously posted about her before, as we do for all of our dogs, and she's been on our website. But for some reason this last post we made really just blew up."
The publicity certainly had the desired effect – the shelter received so much attention that their servers crashed and with it came 150 applications to adopt.
On Saturday the shelter posted an image of Jubilee alongside her new family – a couple who have previously adopted from Husky House and two “fur-siblings" – in an adoption that was particularly popular with staff at the shelter.
“Jubilee has always been one of my favorites," DiMartino said. “She's really such an awesome dog who was so deserving of her forever home."
Asked what makes Jubilee so special she added: “Well first thing is obviously her looks, she captures your eye pretty quickly. But she's just so sweet despite having been abandoned by the breeder."
Until the post last week, Jubilee had attracted “zero interest," the shelter said on Facebook, adding that if they had known “posting a sad story" would get her a new home they “would have done it two years ago."
