Staff Sent Little Girl Photos Of Missing Stuffed Dog Enjoying Their Hotel After She Left Him Behind

Apr 01, 2020 by apost team

When kids get attached to a stuffed animal or a blanket, parents know how much their bond becomes inseparable and the devastation their child feels when they are separated.

When 2-year-old Juniper Kuykendall from Oak Hill, Virginia accidentally left her favorite stuffed animal, a dog named Ruff Ruff, in their hotel room in March it was the beginning of a stressful journey for her and her mom Allison. Luckily, the Richmond, Virginia hotel staff found the dog and what's more, they had a photoshoot with the little guy to show Juniper how much fun Ruff Ruff was having.

The Kuykendall family were in town with their four daughters for a soccer tournament, and once it was all over they packed up their car and headed home. When little Juniper realized Ruff Ruff was missing in the car ride home, her mom knew she had to call the hotel staff and see what they could do for her young daughter.

The staff members went above and beyond once they informed Allison that Ruff Ruff was in fact in the lost-and-found. They informed her the precious package would be in the mail to their family home within a few days.

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Shortly afterwards, the family received a package with a tin of chocolate chip cookies, Ruff Ruff, some photographs, and a note that read:

“Dear Juniper,” the note read, “thanks for letting us borrow Ruff Ruff for a day! He was such a big help around the hotel. Don’t worry, he didn’t work too hard and we gave him plenty of playtime! He’s missed you so much! Thanks again, and hope you and Ruff Ruff visit us again soon! Love, Doubletree Team.”

The full-page photos showed Ruff Ruff in a variety of fun and adorable poses like talking on the phone and lounging by the pool. 

Thanks to the hotel staffers, the idea to cheer up a little girl who had temporarily lost her friend had worked like a charm.

“Juniper couldn’t stop laughing as she looked at the pictures,” Allison said to the Washington Post. "I wanted to do something to cheer people up, and it seems to have worked," she continued. "People started sharing it almost immediately."

Allison had posted the adorable pics to Facebook where it brightened up the day of not just Juniper but thousands of people who commented and shared.

Ruff Ruff is a very special dog to Juniper who had received him as a baby while in the ICU when she was born prematurely, according to the Washington Post. Her mom noted that she has other stuffed animals but Ruff Ruff quickly became the favorite.

It was thanks to the kind-hearted employees who work at the hotel that Juniper got her friend back home to where he belongs.

"One of the friends I was working with came in one day and said, ‘Look what we found in one of the rooms,’ " said Beth Anne Boone, the hotel’s sales and marketing director, to the Washington Post. “I said, 'Oh, my gosh, look at that cute dog! We should take pictures of him all over the hotel and send them to the child.”

Thanks to the hotel staff, a little was able to smile once again! What do you think of the story? Tell others who might need a smile in these times too.