Sometimes when you see a smile, you just know you’re going to fall in love. Even if you think you don’t need it, or aren’t ready for it, it just happens.

For one Seattle woman, all it took was a little boredom to send her scrolling through pictures, when she spotted the lopsided grin that would steal her heart.

Who can resist a happy dog, afterall?

Sherry Lankston said she and her family weren’t looking for a second dog. With two kids and one dog, her and her husband had plenty on their plate.

But that all changed with one heartwarming smile from a dog named Harvey that just needed a home. 

There was just one wrinkle – the dog was more than a thousand miles away in San Diego, Calif.

“So we kind of had to pause and I was like, ‘OK, well, that’s probably not going to happen.’ I even looked at flights,” Lankston told the Today show.

I was like, ‘Why not look? Let’s see if I (can) find a flight to San Diego.’ And things were just outrageous — just to even consider that was silly.”

Lankston tried to put the thought aside. But with constant posting by the San Diego Department of Animal Services, she just couldn’t help it. She messaged Joy Ollinger, who shared Harvey’s photos, and learned more about the pup.

“He was there for months and nobody was interested in him,” Ollinger told Today reporters. “I was hearing people say that he was ugly or ‘Ew, look at him!'”

Ollinger said that they think Harvey had been bitten by another dog when he was a puppy, causing his unusual smile.

She and the staff fell in love with Harvey, Ollinger said, often letting him try out new toys, which the bright pup immediately learned to play with.

“He was a shelter favorite. I mean, the volunteers loved him. All of us that work there loved him,” she said.

Sherry Lankston and her sons, along with the family dog, made a more than 1,000 mile road trip to meet a dog they hoped to adopt. Photo from the Lankston family.

So when Lankston reached out about Harvey, Ollinger was ecstatic.

“I was looking into different options on how we could get Harvey up to Seattle, and then Sherry told me, ‘You know what, I’m just gonna make the drive down.'”

Lankston, and her two sons who were on vacation from school, along with their dog, River, all piled into the car for the trip. 

But it was worth it, she said.

“He’s just so goofy. I mean, how could you see that face and just be like, ‘No?'” Lankston laughed. “He is so cute!”

After three days of driving, they finally reached San Diego.

“It was love at first sight!” Ollinger said. “It was really cute.”

Lankston said she had no doubts after meeting Harvey. “It’s a big undertaking to take on another dog, especially a rescue because you never know what you’re gonna get. But we knew,” she says. “First meeting I was like, ‘OK, he’s our dog.'”

Harvey, left, and his new brother, River. Photo by the Lankston family.

Harvey was allowed to get to know River, and the two dogs became friends quickly. Lankston got her husband to fly into San Diego, so he could also meet Harvey. Then the new family of 5 made the drive back to Seattle.

“I just saw that happy face with his tongue rolling out the side and I told my husband, ‘That little wonky face speaks my little wonky heart and I think that’s my dog,'” she said.

“He’s just a great dog and I wish other people would hear the story and just say, ‘You know what, let’s go check out the shelter and maybe not pass up that wonky dog in a corner because that wonky dog in the corner could be their best friend.”

Watch below to see the happy dog and his new family. Like and comment below and tell us about your pets and their rescue stories!

Source: Today Show