Since these best buds were found as strays in Dallas and housed at the Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center, they’ve been inseparable. (For original story, click here.)

While at the Dallas shelter, their names were A0994268 and A0994278. They have both since been reunited with their family and The ARRA was given the “scoop” about the story behind the viral photo by their human mama, Brittany Young.

Pancha sleeping on top of Mary Lee at the Dallas Animal Shelter.

The name of the pit bull-mix is Mary Lee. Such a “girly” name for a dog many deem menacing – unfortunately. That is the general misconception and the total antithesis of what Mary Lee is all about. Certainly, the photo of Mary Lee with her little sister, Pancha, while at the shelter would suggest this view is misplaced. Here’s what Young said about Mary Lee:

Mary Lee reminds me of a grandma, she always so loving towards any puppies she sees. She had a litter before we got her and it left her ‘saggy’, she will even allow other dogs to try to nurse and cry if you take her out of the room where puppies might be. She has such a loving motherly instinct. She even lays down with the kids and watches movies.

Mary Lee used to lay outside the kennel I kept the puppies in and cry so as soon as the puppies started walking and being able to come around her she would instantly lay down as if she was ready to nurse them. Once I gave them the chance to all sleep together they found their place on her back.

Actually, both Pancha and her doggie mom, Vaca, sleep on Mary Lee’s back. A photo of Vaca sleeping on Mary Lees’ back is the featured photo.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

How the bonded pair got out of the yard is a mystery. Young explains that she left them in the backyard while she attended her daughters’ field day. Upon arriving home, they were gone. Young called the local pound and traveled by car up and down all of the streets of her small town – all to no avail. Young said she was “devastated,” and “couldn’t find the words to tell her kids.” According to Young, the gates to her yard were closed and there were no holes out of which they could have escaped.

Before going out to eat on the night they went missing, Young “casually left the gate open” without saying anything to her children, hoping the two would find their way back home. While out, Young received a photo of the odd couple of Dallas Animal Shelter’s facebook post.

Young went to the Dallas Animal Shelter to retrieve her two furkids, at which time they informed her that the pair were found roaming the streets 25 minutes from her home. Given the distance they both traveled, as well as the fact that her gate was closed and there were no holes in the earth of her backyard, Young surmises they were taken and dumped. It’s pure speculation. No one will ever know.

Young said she “is just so thankful and appreciative of [the] DAS Facebook post!”

__________________________________

Featured photo source: Brittany Young