You may notice that Murray doesn’t look like other dogs. He is wonderfully unique. And it was his looks, in part, that made his family fall head over heels in love with him.

Murray’s story now has a happily ever after, but for a good, long while, things didn’t look so rosy.

Murray was born in Puerto Rico, where he contracted distemper and was abandoned on Dead Dog Beach — a beach on the southeastern coast of the island where hundreds of animals are left for dead every year.

Distemper is a horrible virus, that often kills the animals that contract it, destroying the nervous and respiratory systems. But Murray survived. The bout left him toothless (as such, he is unable to keep his tongue in his mouth) and with a disfigured head, neither of which do a thing to detract from his sweet, loving nature and zeal for life.

Murray was eventually found and rescued by The Sato Project, which brought him to the United States to be adopted.

In fact, a vet had Murray slated to be euthanized due to his condition, but then had a change of heart when Murray began wagging his tail before the lethal injection could take place. Again, Murray beat the odds. And that’s when he met the Gallant family, whose love for him was sharp and instantaneous.

“The signature tongue out is just the cutest thing, and his crooked features, if you look at his face closely you notice his ears aren’t aligned right on his head. His quirks make him even cuter and more special,” Mackenzie Gallant told Barcroft Media.

Murray began life with the Massachusetts family as a foster, but they decided they couldn’t give him up and eventually created an Instagram account that’s been helping raise awareness for rescue dogs and The Sato Project in general.

“We made his Instagram when I left for college for friends and family to follow but over the past year he has gained a lot of followers and helped raise awareness of rescue dogs, The Sato Project and distemper,” Gallant said.