This is Rowdy with his mom, Niki Umbenhower. They live in Oregon. Umbenhower told BuzzFeed News that her old doggo has vitiligo.
And so does 8-year-old Carter Blanchard, who lives in Arkansas. Vitiligo is a benign condition that causes loss of skin pigment.
Carter's mom, Stephanie Adcock, found Rowdy's Facebook page around a year ago.
Since then, she said, her son has become proud of the spots that once made him anxious. "Rowdy made him do a 180 with his confidence," Adcock said.
“Right around the time we discovered Rowdy, [Carter] looked at me one night and said, 'Your skin's boring because you don’t have vitiligo,'" she recalled.
I mean, look at these groovy patches.
On Saturday, Carter was able to fly with his mom to meet Rowdy in person!!! “You would think they grew up together," Adcock said of the first meeting. "He immediately went to Rowdy."
The pair even did a photo shoot together and looked ~pretty~ cute.
My heart!
Umbenhower wants more kids like Carter to meet her patchy pup — who is older and sadly in poor health. "There’s a push to have kids meet Rowdy as soon as possible," she said.
As for Carter, he returns home with his mom Thursday morning.
"This is the dog that really changed his childhood for him. It’s going to be hard for us to leave him," Adcock said.
Rowdy and Carter 4 ever.
