Texas Woman Spots Two of Her Dog's Siblings in the Shelter and Gives Her Pet a Family Reunion

After rescuing her dog, Benjamin, Jennifer Butler managed to stumble upon two of the canine's siblings

Texas Woman Spots Two of Her Dog's Siblings in the Shelter and Gives Her Pet a Family Reunion
Photo: Jennifer Butler

Jennifer Butler is helping her dog Bennie expand his family tree.

In 2013, Butler, who works at a veterinary practice in Greenville, Texas, decided to adopt a pet when a Good Samaritan brought Benjamin (or Bennie) the puppy into her workplace.

The woman had found the 6-week-old dog alone in a field and brought the little canine to the vet hospital for an exam.

"She mentioned that she did not plan to add another pet to her household but did not want to take the puppy to a shelter. I offered to adopt him and brought him home the same day," Butler told PEOPLE about meeting Bennie.

Five years after adopting the puppy, Butler was scrolling through Facebook and spotted a post from a local pet adoption network. The post featured a photo of a dog that "looked exactly like Benjamin," according to the veterinary hospital administrator.

"My mind started racing, wondering how he could have escaped from our home and ended up impounded. After a few intense seconds, I realized this dog was incredibly similar to Benjamin but was not, in fact, my boy. I shared his post and vowed to watch for updates on his status at the shelter with hopes that he would be adopted," Butler added.

As promised, Butler kept an eye on Bennie's twin and the dog's adoption status. When she noticed the canine "had gone to 'code red' status — imminent euthanasia due to no space," she decided to take action.

Dogs sitting
Courtesy Jennifer Butler

"I pulled him from the shelter with the goal of placing him in a forever home. The poor guy had a skin infection, upper respiratory infection, a gnarly scar on his rear leg, and heartworms," Butler said." After being neutered and vaccinated, he came home with me, and our son, who was two years old at the time, fell in love. Needless to say, Leonard was quickly deemed a permanent member of our household."

Bennie was cautious of the new arrival at first, but after a few days together, Bennie and Lenoard (or Lennie) "took to each other." And once Bennie and Lennie were under the same roof, it was hard to ignore their uncanny resemblance.

"My coworkers at the veterinary hospital still to this day can not visually tell them apart. We have resorted to color-coding their collars for identification purposes," Butler said of how much the dogs look alike. "We were always curious if they could be siblings but thought the chances were very slim."

Once the veterinary hospital where Butler works started carrying Embark DNA tests with health detection, she decided to get a final answer on whether her dogs were related.

Texas Woman Spots Two of Her Dog's Siblings in the Shelter and Gives Her Pet a Family Reunion
Jennifer Butler

"The science behind the health testing was ultimately what intrigued me, because it allowed me to proactively prepare for health needs that we may encounter, especially for Leonard, since his history for the first five years of his life is a mystery. The added benefit is finally answering the question of 'are they related!?'" the dog mom shared.

The results revealed that Bennie and Lennie are family, and likely littermates.

"I was floored," Butler said of her reaction.

History repeated itself almost five years later when Bennie and Lennie were nine years old.

"One day, the same shelter that Leonard was adopted from posted a photo of a female dog that looked exactly like Bennie and Lennie. Before I even had a chance to see the post for myself, numerous friends and coworkers had tagged me on her post. Of course, I was shocked at the resemblance but thought there was no way the stars would align like this again!" Butler said.

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She added that after she learned the dog was at risk of being euthanized, she "followed the same game plan that failed with Leonard. The goal for Penelope was to rescue her from the shelter, ensure she was healthy, and adopt her to a forever home."

Shortly after she started fostering Lennie and Bennie's lookalike, Butler gave the dog, named Penelope, an Embark DNA test.

"Low and behold, a few weeks later, it revealed that she too was an immediate family member/littermate to my boys," Butler said.

Throughout the fostering process, Penelope spent time with her brothers, slowly warming up to dogs as she overcame the stress from her shelter stay. After recovering with Butler and "the boys," Penelope was adopted.

She now lives in a home as "the only dog and the sole focus of all the love and attention," according to Butler.

She is in touch with Penelope's forever family, who live local to Butler, and is looking forward to getting all the canine siblings together again soon.

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