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Apparently, there is a certain set of people who think small dogs are dumb. Or, maybe, not very manly. My fella was once verbally harassed in a McDonald’s drive thru for having my papillon on his lap, so this is definitely real.
Luckily, my husband is confident and my dog was awesome, so whatever.
Bobby Humphreys, though, used to be one of those guys who had no time for small, girly dogs. He’s a competitive bodybuilder and hardwood floor layer, and he always had big, rough-and-tumble dogs that matched his lifestyle: Rottweilers.
He thought they were regal and imposing, and he and his wife had owned three of them during their 17-year marriage.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Big Guy, Littles World (@bigguylittlesworldsanctuary) on
But then his life took an unexpected turn in 2016.
It began when his wife left him (on New Year’s Eve), and continued when he injured his shoulder a week later.
He needed surgery, but he had no one to lean on. Without his wife, he fell into a deep depression that he struggled to climb out of as he healed. Try as he might, the depression remained.
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One day, his friend messaged to ask if her chihuahua, Lady, could stay with him for a little while.
Bobby didn’t really want the little dog around – he’d used to make fun of his friends who carried similar pups around for their girlfriends in the past – but he couldn’t say no to a friend who had been there for him in his tough times.
Once Lady was in the house, well…everything happened rather quickly.
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“Lady did not just transform my opinion, she transformed my life,” he told Bored Panda. “What didn’t she do? She gave me my self-respect and dignity back. After everything I’ve been through; humiliation shaming, abandonment, and everything else, she gave me the reassurance that I wasn’t such a bad person after all.”
She kept him going, she gave him purpose, and on the days when he didn’t want to get out of bed and go to work, her little stare made him do it, anyway.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4sk_9FJDta/
When it was time for Lady to go back home, Bobby adopted Kira, a similar-looking chihuahua with food aggression issues. Then came Harley and Quinn, two inbred dogs that were unlikely to get adopted by anyone else.
He realized at some point that he was trying to show the dogs a kindness that society and his life had refused to show him – acceptance, no matter what.
They kept coming – bait dogs, abandoned dogs, abused dogs, hoarded dogs – and he kept them all.
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“I made a promise to each and every one of them that they would never have to experience abuse, neglect, abandonment or the pain of loving someone that would not give you love in return no matter how much you tried.”
His small, unintentional mission turned into a chihuahua sanctuary called Big Guy Littles World.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4pba1JJSLT/
Bobby takes the dogs no one wants, shows them love and kindness, and lets them live with him as long as they want.
“I call this place the island of misfit toys… Staring with myself, we are all the rejects. The ones nobody wants. The ones that don’t look perfect. The ones hat don’t fit,” he said to Bored Panda.
The dogs stay with him until – or if – they find someone they like better.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4i6vpMJzjc/
I don’t know about you, but I seem to have something in my eye. I need to go and take care of it.
And possibly find another little papillon that needs a home.
