A shelter dog is cutting the saddest of figures as she waits for that special someone to give her the chance of a happy new life.
Magic, a four-year-old mastiff, is struggling to catch even a passing glance from visitors at Santa Clara Animal Care & Control, and it seems like that’s starting to take a toll. The dog was thrust into the social media spotlight after a clip of her in kennels was posted to the TikTok channel wags4foreverhomes, which was set up to shine a light on some of the Santa Clara facility’s canine residents in need of finding a forever home.
In the clip, Magic can be seen looking sadly into the distance with an onscreen caption explaining that her downbeat mood is due to the fact “no one asks to see her.”
Alex Vega, the CEPA operations aid at Santa Clara County Animal Shelter, told Newsweek that “Magic was found as a stray at Tennant Station in Morgan Hill by Morgan Hill police. She did not have a chip or dog tags, so the shelter placed her on the website as a lost dog for the stray period.”
wags4foreverhomes/TikTok
The fact Magic was not chipped made it difficult for the authorities to ascertain much about her life before she was picked up, but it was clear she was in need of care.
“She had dry skin all over her body and scars on the left side of her body and a mass underneath her tail,” Vega said. “She also had a leash but no ID.”
Magic was initially put on a stray hold, in case her previous owner came forward. When the owner failed to materialize, Magic was made available for adoption, but so far she hasn’t attracted much in the way of interest from visitors.
Vega puts Magic’s struggles down to a number of contributing factors. “She is a mastiff weighing 85 pounds. Many of the clientele that come to the shelter are looking for small to medium-size dogs,” Vega said. “We think she gets passed on because of her size and that she is ‘older,’ aged at four years old.”
Vega has spent more time than most with Magic and insists she’s an altogether different dog once she’s out of her kennel.
“When you see Magic in the kennel, she is usually looking sad, the folds of her skin made her face look as if she is frowning. She is usually laying in her bed with her big eyes looking at you,” Vega said. “However, when she is outside, she is another dog, mouth is open and she looks as if she is smiling. She loves to play, go on walks and cuddle.”
The version of Magic most visitors see is the sad one, though, and that might be part of the problem. In a 2014 study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, researchers studied the interactions of 250 visitors and shelter dogs.
The results highlighted the small window of time these dogs have in which to make an impression on a visitor. The vast majority of visitors studied only requested to interact with a single dog during their visits and these interactions lasted just eight minutes.
There is hope for Magic, though. She’s currently at a foster home, where she’ll get the kind of care needed to come out of her shell and break the cycle of life in the shelter.
Vega has a vision of the kind of home that would suit Magic.
“She would be best for a home that takes her on nice walks and gives her the attention she deserves. She loves to spend time with people and will even let you dress her up,” Vega said. “She had a rough go with her dry skin and scarring, she would appreciate a home that continues to help her coat look the best.”
The aim now is to make that vision a reality.