There were cheers of joy in the SPCA Napier Centre office when the news came through that Teddy the dog had officially been adopted.
The cross-breed's reign as its longest-stay animal is now over, thanks to the love of the Takimoana family from Dunedin.
Teddy arrived at the Napier SPCA, 4 weeks old, on July 2, 2019 and has lived there and in foster care ever since.
The trip south on Labour Weekend now awaits.
Jody Takimoana said he found out about Teddy when his wife Sonja showed him the Hawke's Bay Today article about the unadopted dog.
Soon after he got in touch with Kristina Kenah, canine attendant at the Napier SPCA.
"He's obviously a dog that really needs a home and we just wanted to give him a permanent one.
"He just needs some people to take care of him really and I just thought, yeah, let's do the best we can for this dog."
The family have been talking to Teddy's current foster parent Sam Wheatley and had a Skype date to meet him as well as sending photos and information to Kenah for a virtual property inspection.
The family has experience with rehoming dogs, previously rescuing a 9-year-old dog from Wellington that died a couple of years ago.
The family has been ready for a new dog since then, with Sonja actively wanting one but Jody wanting to wait for the right dog. "When I spoke to the family and they said that they would like to adopt him, I said, 'Just to confirm, you are saying you are wanting to adopt Teddy?' And he said yes and the three colleagues behind me all cheered," Kenah said.
Kenah said seeing animals being adopted into good families is why she does the job.
"Dogs that otherwise might not have great opportunities in life, when you know that they are going to go on and have those, that's why I go to work each day," she said.
Wheatley began fostering Teddy with 48 hours' notice when the country went into level 4 lockdown. What was originally intended to be care just over the lockdown period turned into five months.
While she is sad to see him go, she said she is "over the moon" that Teddy has found a permanent home.
Kenah said the training and socialising work Wheatley has done with Teddy has meant he is ready to be part of a family.