Man took home a 16-year-old dog so that he wouldn't die alone and it changed his life

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 2, 2023. It has since been updated.

There are not many people who are concerned about the well-being of animals at shelter homes. It is usually those people who have a genuine love for animals to come forward to help them out. One such man decided to take home a 16-year-old dog to his house from the shelter so he would not die alone, which changed the dog's life. In a video posted on Reddit by u/St0pX, the man can be seen taking the dog home from the shelter. He tries to come toward the front side of the car and tells him, "You can't come to the front seat. I'm sorry." Henry, the dog, can be later seen peacefully sleeping in the house. 

Next, the overlay text reads, "But months later, he was galloping around the yard." The man loves the dog and says, 'My boy is overly excited to see me." Henry then can be seen running after the foster dad and chasing him. The video has garnered 86k upvotes on Reddit. It is captioned, "Sixteen-year-old dog gets a great new home." People just loved what the foster dad did for the dog. u/firebirdta1995 commented, "It takes a strong family to do this. Good job sir the old pup will be happy and loved." u/quarkybynature wrote, "This made me cry. Such a beautiful story and such a beautiful family for giving this old boy a proper home."

The man who was taking care of Henry was Zach Skow, according to The Dodo. "I saw them bringing him out of his kennel, and he didn't want to walk. He couldn't hear. He couldn't see out of one eye. You could tell he was really confused. He's probably 15 or 16. I assume he was surrendered because he had cancer," Skow said. "I remember the expression on his face. You could just feel his pain," added Skow. He was not sure if Henry would make it very long. "I just wanted to get him home, give him love, give him a couple of days, couple of weeks," said Skow. His foster parent said Henry got better after that first night of sleep. "So we're here at the vet. We're just dropping him off. They're going to remove that testicular cancer," said Skow.

Henry kept getting better and one day, Skow shared that he followed him up the stairs. "Every morning, he would do a little gallop and every day, that gallop would get a little bit more." So about a month and a half in, they began to get adoption applications for Henry. "A lot of folks wonder how you bring an animal into your life and let it go. It is challenging and you fall in love, but it's very easy to delineate between the value of keeping him in our family and letting him go."

A while later, Henry was adopted by another family and his mom ran an Instagram channel called @seniordoghenry, documenting his life. Henry, unfortunately, passed away on January 6, 2022. "He passed peacefully with myself and our family by his side. He passed in my arms and in my lap with love, ear rubs, boops, and loads of kisses from me and the girls. I am a mess and my heart is broken. He was a joy in my life that I cannot explain; he brought sunshine on dark days and unconditional love each and every day. His tests were all looking good, but his body just couldn't handle it anymore. I know he brought joy to so many, and to my family, you have all brought in light and love like we could not comprehend. Thank you for being on his journey with us - and for loving and supporting him daily. RIP Henry, my sweet boy," wrote the family on Instagram.