Thursday (March 23) is National Puppy Day, in which we celebrate all the good things that our dogs and puppies do for us. (Note: All dogs can be called puppies.)
This is the story of an eight-year-old boy named Carter, and his 13-year-old puppy friend, Rowdy. Both have the same skin condition, vitiligo, which causes the cells that make skin pigment to be destroyed and white spots to show up on the face.
Carter’s mom told ABC News that when he first learned he had vitiligo, it was hard on him.
“He was at a big school with a lot of kids and his face was transforming very quickly,” Stephanie Adcock told ABC News. “As he was trying to come to terms with it, he had his classmates trying to also because his face was changing in front of them.”
She added, “The first thing he’d tell me when he got in the car is that he hated his face and hated the way he looked.”
Then Carter saw pictures and videos of Rowdy online, and his mom said his attitude toward vitiligo did a “180.” An anonymous donor flew Carter out to Oregon to meet Rowdy, and the two instantly became best friends, according to Rowdy’s owner, Niki Umbenhower.
“Carter will be on the floor doing Legos and Rowdy will come and lay down next to him,” she said, adding of the pair’s first meeting, “Carter hugged him and petted him for two hours straight and they’ve been together ever since.”
What a good kid and a good dog.