Man devotes his life to adopting old shelter dogs no one else wants

[Steve Greig shares his home with ten dogs, a large pig and an assortment of foul / Steve Greig/Instagram]

A Colorado man has made it his mission to open his heart and his home to older shelter dogs that might otherwise never be adopted.

Steve Greig is an accountant by day, but by morning, evening and all weekend long, he is a full-time pet owner. The Denver, Colorado resident currently shares his home with ten dogs, a large pig, two chickens, two ducks, two pigeons, two cats, a rabbit name Stuart and a pond of koi.

So how did this otherwise ordinary man become the owner of a whopping 20 pets? Greig grew up with lots of animals in the house, reports The Dodo, and he has had three or four dogs for most of his adult life.

But his interest in caring for senior dogs didn’t catalyze until one of his beloved dogs died. Grieg was torn apart by the animal’s death, and decided he needed to do something meaningful.

“I decided that the only way I would feel better was if something good happened that probably wouldn’t have happened if he had not died,” Greig told The Dodo.

So he headed down to a shelter to adopt what he deemed to be the least adoptable dog, which in this case turned out to be a 12-year-old Chihuahua named Eeyore with four bad knees and a heart murmur.

Since the adoption of Eeyore, Greig has made adopting older shelter dogs a habit. He also takes in other species if they need a home.

He got his pig, named Bikini, from an owner who was having problems with their landlord. Stuart the rabbit just appeared on Greig’s lawn one day — he assumes that someone must of known he was an animal guy and that the rabbit would have a good home.

And boy, do these animals have a good home. Greig gets up every day at 5am to prepare everyone’s breakfast. Then he comes home at lunch to let them all out and back at dinner to feed and walk the whole ragtag bunch.

So why all the old dogs, if you can’t teach them new tricks?

Greig says he likes it this way. The fact that the dogs are old means they are more mellow and relaxed — it’s just easier to have ten senior dogs than ten puppies.

Despite everyone’s age, Greig’s gang is adorable and it’s not a huge surprise they’ve become Instagram celebrities.