Dog in shelter for 5 years will soon become star of new billboard to find forever home

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Drivers will soon see a new billboard as they travel to downtown Kansas City. It will have a dog’s face plastered on it for all to see. His name is Merrick - and he’s looking for his forever home.

"We’ve tried a lot of different ways to get him adopted, through photo shoots, promotional videos and etc. We just reached a point where we’re out of ideas," said Scott Poore, animal advocate and owner of Mission Driven. 

Merrick has lived at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City for nearly five years. But Poore and the shelter have faith he’ll find his permanent family soon.

"Merrick has been here with us 1,675 days, but I’m not giving up on him and nobody should," Humane Society President and CEO Kate Fields said.

The sweet pup's story before coming to the shelter is like many of the other animals there — abandoned and not in good condition health wise.

"Someone found him and brought him in with a huge abscess on his cheek and his tooth and his gum, about the size of a grapefruit," Fields said.

Now that he's healthy, Poore is hoping a lot of eyes will see Merrick’s billboard and fall in love.

"In the shelter, he’s got 15 people who visit him every day," he said. "They love him and they spoil him, but he needs that family environment, that individual love, that connection. He’s not getting that here."

Poore isn't sure of the exact location yet, but the billboard will go up next week and will stay up for four weeks. He said Merrick's ad will move around the downtown area during those four weeks. Poore is also expecting the ad to be by Arrowhead Stadium at some point.

But first they've got to raise the money to pay for it. If you'd like to donate, Poore has a GoFundme. If funds raised exceed Poore's initial goal, the rest of the money will go to the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.