SUPERMAN’s Krypto Has Led to a Super Surge in Searches About Adopting Rescue Dogs

In a story we first heard about at The Wrap, the dog training app Woofz says Google searches for the phrase “adopt a dog near me” increased 513% after the opening weekend of James Gunn’s blockbuster superhero movie. Inquiries for “rescue dog adoption near me” also jumped up by 163%. 

This is more wonderful than you might realize. The untrained Krypto is based on Gunn’s own dog Ozu, whom the director adopted while writing the movie. Ozu inspiring others to try and find homes for good pups who need them is, fittingly, super.

While this is obviously very sweet and will likely lead to some wonderful additions to families everywhere, it’s also not surprising Woofz is also making sure people know what they’re getting into when they adopt a rescue dog. This isn’t the first time a film has inspired moviegoers to do exactly that. In 1996, Disney’s live-action 101 Dalmatians remake led to a flood of people getting their own spotted canine. Previous re-releases of the original animated film also resulted in a big jump of Dalmatian adoptions. Only, a lot of people weren’t prepared to take care of them. That lead to many sad returns. This phenomenon was so widespread it even has its own term, The Dalmatian Syndrome.

That shouldn’t discourage anyone from finding their own Krypto. Just know it’s a big committment. You’re signing up to take care of an innocent creature who might need extra love and patience. As Superman showed, that was hard for Clark Kent even with his robots around to help. It takes a super person to take care of a rescue dog.