“All she had to give was whatever she could find on the streets and her entire heart” ❤️
For dog lover Niall Harbison, providing fresh food to the stray pups on Thailand’s Koh Samui started simply as an act of kindness. In his eyes, the best reward was seeing the stray dogs receive the nutrition and attention they desperately needed. He never anticipated that one of the pups would show her gratitude by giving him gifts in return.
Niall Harbison
It all started last year when Harbison met a 4-month-old puppy named Snickers in his neighborhood. Snickers belonged to a local family with small children, who doted on Snickers in her puppyhood. But as she got older, Snickers began spending more time outside on her own — and she sadly stopped receiving the care she needed to stay healthy and safe.
“The kids love the puppies for a couple of weeks, but then they are on their own to live with the dangers of traffic and everything else a dog faces in the jungle,” Harbison told The Dodo. “It’s a tough life.”
Niall Harbison
Snickers soon became one of the 1,000 dogs Harbison fed daily, but she wasn’t like the others. While the other fed pups thanked Harbison with tail wags and kisses, Snickers decided to show her gratitude by bringing him a present.
“Her very first gift was actually a single flip flop,” Harbison said. “It was a woman’s size, but it felt as if she was saying to me, ‘Here you go, you could do with a new set of shoes.’”
Niall Harbison
Like Harbison looked out for Snickers and the other stray dogs on the island, Snickers began caring for him. After bringing him the lone sandal, Snickers couldn’t help but gift Harbison a new item daily.
“All she had to give was whatever she could find on the streets and her entire heart,” Harbison wrote on X.
Niall Harbison
From single shoes to muddy kids’ toys, Snickers happily presented Harbison with a new gift every day for a year. Snickers’ offerings, albeit adorable, baffled Harbison. He’d seldom seen such behavior in stray dogs.
“I genuinely think she is trying to show kindness and possibly play,” Harbison said. “I’ve seen this behavior in domesticated dogs who have toys for their owners when they arrive home, so I think it’s something similar. A sort of showing of love.”
Niall Harbison
After a year of daily presents, Snickers finally received her own gift when Harbison, who founded a rescue called Happy Doggo, officially decided to take her in as one of his residents.
His mission was to find her a forever home and, in the meantime, help her learn how to be a dog again.
Niall Harbison
While she had already mastered retrieving items for Harbison, Snickers was still missing one key aspect of dog life: play. Thankfully, another resident named Teddy immediately began showing her the ropes.
“Snickers has never played fetch in her life,” Harbison wrote on X. “As a street dog, she was too busy avoiding dangers like big trucks to ever be able to relax. [But] it only took her about 10 minutes of Teddy teaching her to learn how to bring the ball back.”
You can watch Snickers play fetch here:
Learning how to play fetch was a significant milestone for Snickers, but her biggest day at Happy Doggo came when Harbison presented her with a box of fresh new toys just for her.
“After giving me over 100 presents on the streets, it was time to give her an entire gift set of her own to welcome her in,” Harbison wrote on X.
Watch Snickers receive her surprise box of toys here:
Snickers was overjoyed to receive her new toys, first collar and bandana. After a few hours of playing, Snickers settled into her bed at Happy Doggo’s headquarters and began dreaming of her future family.
Niall Harbison
Snickers is still searching for her forever family today, but Harbison is confident she won’t have to wait long. With such a playful, kind and loving personality, it’s only a matter of time before the right family adopts her.
“Her gifts are always creative and from the heart,” Harbison wrote in a video posted on X. “She deserves her own humans to share her kind heart with.”
