Any animal-lover will tell you that animals make the best company, and Hallee Fuqua certainly agrees. In fact, Hallee, who is from Oklahoma, loves dogs so much that she took up volunteering at a local dog shelter during the Thanksgiving break.
Within no time at all, Hallee became especially close to one of the dogs there, so her dad decided to gift her with something truly special that Christmas – the very same rescue dog whom Hallee had bonded with. This surprise was made even bigger by the fact that she had been asking for a dog for years – and until now, her wish had never been granted.
Hallee’s dad knew that the moment she laid eyes on her new dog was doing to be a special one, so he made sure that he recorded the beautiful moment for us all to see.
When Hallee first clapped eyes on rescue dog Rambo at the Humane Society in Stillwater, she fell instantly in love with him. As she spent more and more time with the Plott Hound and Mountain Cur mix, it appeared that the feeling was mutual, and Rambo was always the first that Hallee would go and visit.
“She would come in and just sit with him,” Jackie Ross-Guerrero, the shelter’s director, told ABC News. “They connected from day one.”
But the nature of working in a shelter meant that Hallee knew not to get too attached. One day, Rambo wouldn’t be hers to care for anymore.
Rambo would soon have his own family and his own home, and his special times spent with Hallee would become memories.
But Hallee’s father Lance wasn’t about to let this happen. He had seen with his own eyes how attached his daughter had become to Rambo, and he decided to secretly adopt the dog and set the whole thing up as a special Christmas surprise for his daughter. Naturally, pulling off his secret dog adoption mission was going to involve a few little white lies.
“We pulled a little white lie when she would come in so she would think he was still under adoption,” Jackie said.
The surprise only intensified when Hallee found out that Rambo had been adopted, two days before the surprise on Sunday, Dec. 16. As she took in the news that her friend would no longer be at the shelter anymore, her father said that she was absolutely ‘broken’.
Unbeknownst to her, Rambo now actually belonged to Hallee!
The day of the surprise arrived, and Hallee’s father managed to capture her reaction on video, which he shared in a Facebook post that soon went viral. It’s unsurprising that this heartwarming video racked up over 12k likes and 4k shares since being posted. It’s such a special moment!
As Hallee opens the door, she is completely unaware of what’s about to come. The moment that she spots her dad presenting her with her favorite dog, Hallee is evidently in complete shock- and she can do nothing more but stand and stare.
Then as Rambo bounds over to greet her, Hallee breaks down in tears and sweeps her new dog into the biggest of hugs.
Even while she’s petting her dog, Hallee still seems to be in a state of disbelief, and can’t stop asking, “is he mine?” and, “are you joking?” But when she realizes that Rambo is hers to keep forever she simply can’t stop crying tears of joy.
Lance makes the most of his viral Facebook post by encouraging people to donate to the shelter, as he can see first-hand just how many animals’ lives are being changed for the better. The caption reads:
‘So, here’s the story. Our daughter Hallee Fuqua has been asking for a dog for Christmas for years. We told her she should wait until after she graduates college. She began volunteering at the Humane Society of Stillwater. She fell in love with a dog named Rambo and visited him often.’
‘My wife and I decided to secretly adopt him 3 weeks ago. With the help from the Humane Society we kept it a secret. She found out this weekend that Rambo had been adopted and she was broken. So Sunday night we surprised her with her early Christmas present. We captured the moment on video. Merry Christmas Hallee! #onehappygirl #onehappydog’
What an amazing dad! We don’t think any Christmas will ever be able to top this one – for Hallee, or for Rambo.
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