Leo Downs is a 6 year-old boy from St. Louis, Missouri who was incredible close to his best friend, a dog named Mellow. The dog had been adopted by Leo’s parents when he was just a puppy, and he spent 13 beautiful years with them.

Mellow watched over Leo’s mother Katie when she was pregnant with him, and he bonded with the child as soon as he was born.

“Anywhere Leo was, [Mellow] was sure to be right next to him,” Katie explained. “We graduated Leo to a bunk bed earlier last year and guess who got the bottom bunk? You guessed it, Mellow did.”

“He truly loved us [and] everyone he met and he exemplified the definition of a top-notch dog,” she continued. “My husband took him everywhere! It’s a rarity that you know my husband and not know Mellow.”

Unfortunately, Mellow passed away earlier this year, and Leo was left devastated by his death.

The Downs family was so grief stricken that they initially did not want to get another dog for awhile, but Leo was not onboard with this.

“He kept saying, ‘Mom, I want another dog!’” Katie explained. “And then, like every other child, he went to Dad begging for the same thing.”

Katie was browsing the Stray Rescue of St. Louis’s Facebook page when she came upon of an image of a dog named Nutty Buddy. She was stunned to see that he looked just like Mellow did when he was a puppy!

Katie showed her husband Chris a photo of the nine week-old puppy, and he agreed that the dog looked just like Mellow.

“He quickly said, ‘Put in an adoption application for him! I have to meet him!’” Katie recalled.

After their adoption application was approved, Katie and Chris decided to surprise Leo with the dog! They told the boy that they needed to stop by the shelter to drop off some donations, but instead, he was about to get the best surprise of his life!

As soon as Leo set eyes on Nutty Buddy, he began to cry. He was overwhelmed by the fact that the dog looked just like Mellow!

Leo cried even more when he realized the puppy now belonged to him. Katie assured everyone that he was crying tears of joy!

“It was an incredible moment for our family and I’m happy that we were able to capture this special moment,” Chris said.

Katie then took to social media to post a photo of Nutty Buddy on his way to his new forever home.

“The best experience ever!!” she wrote alongside the image. “You guys made our day but more importantly, you made our son Leo’s day in helping surprise him with Nutty Buddy! Thank you!”

Check out the heartwarming moment for yourself in the video below!