BOULDER – As dogs run and roll around the Valmont Dog Park in Boulder, it's hard for any of them to really stand out.
But then there's Kiss, a 4-year-old boxer whose life was nearly cut short because of the very thing that makes him different: his tongue.
The appropriately-named dog is always sticking out of his mouth because a neurological condition he was born with that makes him unable to pull it back in.
"I don't think there's a name for it," said Dawn Korres, his owner. "It's neurological. Something that affects the nerve in his head."
It's a rare condition for sure, but it's one that has made him famous.
Korres said she successfully adopted him about six months ago from a California "kill shelter" -- meaning euthanization was in his near future.
"I can't imagine. And it just makes me want to get so many more animals," she said. "I knew it in my heart when I saw his picture, and I saw him at the shelter, I knew he was going to be mine."
Now Kiss is all hers, and his new reality is living a healthy life in Boulder as well as online, where he has thousands of followers on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram andTumblr. They're run by his very own social media coordinator.
"I do have a very special job. It's what my parents call the best job in the world," said Michayla Lupien. "I'm constantly on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr."
Korres said it's all to encourage aspiring pet owners to adopt.
"I knew that somehow he and I were going to team up and save animals," she said. "If he gets famous on the Internet, everyone knows him and he saves many lives because of it, then hey, that's a great cause."
When we posted this to our Facebook page, KSDK viewers shared photos of their own dogs whose tongues hang out!
