Sass arrived at the shelter last August, when his owner opted to move abroad, but left the chained dog alone in the yard to fend for himself.

"Despite his difficult past, he still trusted people. He's a dog with a very good temperament," said Anni Anete Mõisamaa, spokesperson from Varjupaikade MTÜ, the shelter which took Sass and later found him a new permanent home.

Sass was already a fairly senoir 10 years old when he was brought to the shelter.
"For an old dog, a shelter environment is particularly hard," Mõisamaa said.

Shelter staff and volunteers did everything they could to find the Sass a new home, as quickly as possible. This involved him being presented on TV shows, and he was also one of the faces of last year's PÖFF film festival campaign. He even got his very own "dream day," thanks to a clip shared on social media.

It was this very clip that made Annika Veisson and Riho Kirsipuu start thinking about taking Sass on. They had been the owners of two dogs, Ariette and Sähvi, but Sähvi had sadly passed away.

"Since Ariette was so down, we thought we had to find her a friend. That's when we saw there was an old dog at the shelter in Tallinn. At first, Sass growled and barked, but he came to really liked Ariette," Annika recalled.
"I'm now his absolute favorite. Sass guards me, he's very attached. He's also an ideal walking companion," she added.

"We realized they were having a lot of fun together. Now they're already playing and roughhousing," Riho added.

"Sass is big and brown, but actually very soft-natured. He also helps calm Ariette's energy a bit."

The family also has a cat, who was adopted from a shelter as well.

At the time of writing, Varjupaikade MTÜ shelters across Estonia still have seven senior dogs waiting for a loving home. According to Mõisamaa, staff hope to find each one a good home.

November is senior dogs' month at the shelter, as well, meaning there are other animals looking for a home.

"We saw how unfortunately long older dogs have to wait in shelters. We thought we had to do something about it," Mõisamaa.said.

If offering a permanent home to a senior dog isn't possible, people can take part in a charity art auction to support senior dogs. Artists who have donated works include Epp Maria Kokamägi and Navitrolla, as well as young creators aged from Sally art studio in Tallinn. That auction ends on November 30.

The Varjupaikade MTÜ animal shelter's site is here.

The full "Ringvaade" clip with Sass is below.