If you’ve lived your whole life with a dog, a home has to feel pretty empty without one. Your heart has to feel like there’s something missing as well.
When Jack McCrossan, originally from Scotland, moved to Bristol, England with his three friends, they were bummed out to learn that their landlord didn’t allow dogs.
So when they saw a beautiful black Sheprador (a German Sheppard Lab mix) in their neighbor’s window, they knew that had to become buddies with her.
They wrote the dog’s owner, Sarah Tolman, a letter asking to arrange a play date with the dog.
“If you ever need someone to walk him/her, we will gladly do so,” they wrote.
“If you ever get bored (we know you never will, but we can dream) we are more than happy to look after him/her. If you want to come over and bring him/her to brighten our day, you are more than welcome. If you want to walk past our balcony windows so we can see him/her, please do,” the letter continued.
“We hope this doesn’t come too strong, but our landlord won’t allow pets, and we’ve all grown up with animals. The adult life is a struggle without one,” they wrote.
“Yours sincerely, The boys form number 23,” the letter concluded.
Soon after, the boys in 23 received a response from the dog herself, Stevie Ticks, accepting the offer. Although it may have been written by her human, Sarah.
In the letter, Stevie shares a bit about herself, saying she’s two years and four months old, was adopted in Cyprus, and that she’s “very friendly and full of beans.”
(The boys shouldn’t worry about a gassy hound, in England, “full of beans” means lively.)
“I love meeting new people and it would be great if we can be friends. I must warn you that the price of my friendship is 5 x ball throws a day and belly scratches whenever I demand them,” the letter continued.
A few days later, the boys got to meet Stevie
“Meeting Stevie was great!” McCrossan told Buzzfeed. “She was definitely as energetic as described. We got to take her for a walk and she wouldn’t stop running!”
Tolman thought the boys’ letter was a fantastic gesture in an era when sometimes neighbors are strangers.
“In a day and age where people don’t really know or speak to their neighbors it was really nice for them to break down that barrier,” she said.
She hopes to have the boys over for beers in the near future so they can hang with Stevie at her place.
This article originally appeared on 12.18.19
