He had it ruff.
In late October, a video of a scraggly, shy little dog being ignored at a Central Park adoption event went viral. The footage showed the pup, Bob Parr, with his handler, looking around forlorn and ignored, all the other doggies seemingly having been snapped up. It netted nearly 4 million views on TikTok, thousands of swooning comments and hundreds of adoption applications.
One online admirer was Jade Letlow, a 31-year-old Bensonhurst resident whose beloved adopted Yorkie, Brooks, had passed away in May.
Letlow, who works in insurance, wasn’t really looking for a new furry companion, but then she saw Bob online.
“I was scrolling, and I randomly saw this video,” she told The Post. “And I said this is the cutest freaking dog ever. I want this dog … how is he not adopted.”
She submitted an application for the 3-year-old, 10-pound Terrier Chihuahua mix to Badass Dog Rescue. They invited her to an adoption event to meet Bob and learn more about him. He’d ended up in a shelter in Georgia for unknown reasons and then was sent north, where he was fostered by multiple families. The various moves had left him shaken.
“The volunteer told me that Bob has issues,” Letlow recalled “He was on anxiety medication and was super, super timid, to the point where I was trying to touch him, and he was shaking.”
But she wasn’t deterred.
“I like an underdog,” she quipped.
Letlow started the adoption process, which took just over a month and saw her competing for Bob with dog lovers from across the country. After a thorough vetting, included a home visit and references, Badass sent the news that Bob was hers.
“It was a matter of finding the right person,” said Letlow.
She picked him up on December 10, but her new roommate was initially too terrified to go inside Letlow’s home and nipped at her. She eventually coaxed him through the door and he quickly retreated to a corner, refusing to eat or go to the bathroom for days.
After about a week, and with the help of a trainer sent by Badass, the pair made progress. One night, Letlow went out with friends and returned home to find her little pooch was not in his usual corner.
“I was like ‘Where is Bob?’” she said. “He was on the couch. I sat down and he nudged me and [gave me] a ‘pet me’ look and we’ve been best friends ever since.”
She even took him to her parents’ Pennsylvania home for Christmas, and he cuddled and sniffed his way into her family’s heart.
“He did fabulous. They absolutely loved him.”
Bob is now thriving and loving his new life — especially when Letlow cooks him chicken breast.
“He is very chill, so one of his favorite things to do is hop on the couch with me and watch Netflix. He’s my shadow,” she said. “He’s the perfect New York dog,” she added. “He just needed to come out of his shell.”