Shorty is a 15 year-old pug who has always been devoted to his owner Marc Peralta. When he was younger, Shorty went everywhere with Marc, and he loved their adventures together.

“The relationship between Marc and Shorty is very special,” Marc’s wife Kristen Peralta said. “Marc is Shorty’s person. He just adores him and is the happiest when he is in Marc’s arms. When he was younger, Shorty would travel with Marc everywhere, but it’s not possible now with his age. Marc calls Shorty his ‘angel’ dog. Shorty really taught Marc how to love and care for another living thing.”

Together, Marc and Kristen run the Rhode Island animal shelter Vintage Pet Rescue, which provides a loving hospice environment for senior dogs and cats that are homeless. When Shorty became a senior citizen himself, Marc realized he had to find a way to comfort the dog when he had to leave home to travel for work.

“Unfortunately, Marc has to travel a good amount for work and Shorty gets very anxious when he is away,” Kristen explained. “Shorty will bark and cry and nothing will calm him down. He won’t even calm down if I am holding him. In the past, I tried putting one of Marc’s shirts on a pillow, but it didn’t really work. I felt so helpless trying to calm him down when Marc was away.”

That’s when Kristen’s mom came up with the unusual idea to get a life-sized mannequin and dress him up in Marc’s clothes. Kristen admits that she thought her mom was “nuts,” but she went with the plan anyway.

They dressed the mannequin in Marc’s worn shirt and hat so that it would carry his scent, and they even used fake tattoo sleeves to mimic Marc’s real arm tattoos. Naming the mannequin “Farc,” which is short for “Fake-Marc,” they propped him up on the couch and waited to see what would happen.

Much to their surprise, Shorty immediately cuddled up to Farc!

“Shorty’s reaction was truly incredible,” Kristen said. “He had been crying and barking all day. I put him on Farc’s lap and wrapped the arms around him. He snuggled into the shirt and he was asleep within a half hour. He slept like that through the night. I was amazed. I really could not believe that it worked!”

Soon enough, all of the other senior dogs were cuddling up to Farc as well, thinking that he was Marc!

The shelter posted photos of Farc on social media, and they quickly went viral, with others copying the idea to buy mannequins for their own dogs.

“Since posting Farc on social media I’ve had a few people reach out to me to tell me that they also bought a mannequin for their dog that has separation anxiety,” Kristen said. “I really think this might be a great thing for shelters!”

We’re so glad that this shelter found a creative way to help dogs deal with separation anxiety!