PORT CLINTON, Ohio — Editor's update: The animal sanctuary is no longer taking applications to adopt the German Shepherds after the overwhelming response to the story.
The Island Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary in Port Clinton is looking for someone to adopt two German Shepherd dogs. The five-year-old brothers lived in Tiffin with their owner who died recently at the age of 90.
"It's just important that we find the right person for these two dogs," sanctuary helper Keith Hodkinson said.
Hodkinson is a local radio host who lives in Tiffin, where the two dogs -- Brownie and Blackie -- were staying in a boarding kennel. Soon enough, he got a call from Island Safe Harbor, who asked for his help transporting the dogs.
Sanctuary founder Nancy Benevento isn't sure she's ever seen a bonded pair of dogs like the two siblings.
"These guys are brothers," Benevento said. "They've been together their entire life."
What makes them different from other dogs the sanctuary cares for is their size; each weighs more than 130 lbs.
German Shepherds are not an easy breed to care for and require room to run among other needs, Benevento said.
"You're going to have to have land," she said. "You're going to have to give them a job. They have to still be in a house, a home. It's going to be really tough to find somebody that is the perfect match for these guys."
Most importantly, the two dogs have been together all five years of their lives and have to be adopted as a pair.
"There is no way I would ever separate them," Benevento said.
Benevento believes finding the dogs home would mean everything to the sanctuary and a lifetime of happiness to the canines.
"We want to give them a full life," Hodkinson said. "They're five years old, they've got a long life ahead of them ... when you get to know them, they're loving dogs."