Ready for some much-needed good news?

Amid the stories of fires and hurricanes and racism and partisan bickering that seem to permeate the media these days, we did have one happy ending this past week.

Suzie the dog finally has a home of her own.

• RELATED: Weber County adoption event deemed a success — except for one unadopted dog

To refresh your memory: Back on Aug. 19, Weber County Animal Services participated in a national event called Clear the Shelters. On that day, the Ogden-based animal shelter waived its usual adoption fees on 30 dogs in an attempt to place as many as possible in one day.

When the kibble dust settled, 29 of them had been snatched up by animal lovers.

And the 30th, a sweetheart of a pit bull terrier mix named Suzie? Weber County Animal Services couldn’t even give her away.

“We did a little video at the end of the day showing all of the kennels cleared out — except for hers,” shelter director Ashley Haslam told the Standard-Examiner at the time. “It was kind of sad.”

• RELATED: Suzie the pit bull mix still at Weber shelter, searching for a home

After that first story alerting readers to Suzie’s plight I was confident that someone would adopt her. So I waited a week and called Haslam for a follow-up story. The gist of that story? There had been a couple of inquiries about the homeless animal, but still no takers.

At this point I realize I’m in danger of overplaying the “Suzie the dog” story. She’s already had two pieces written about her, and now along comes this column.

But I figured at least a few of you would be wanting some closure on the subject.

The latest: On Thursday, hoping Suzie had finally been adopted, I left Haslam a voicemail. She called me back that afternoon.

“It just happened an hour ago,” a relieved Haslam said. “It was a perfect match.”

After the second article in the Standard-Examiner, the county’s adoption specialist received a “ton” of inquiries about Suzie. But after going through the adoption applications for the gray and white dog, Haslam says none of them was quite the right fit.

Until Jon Olsen.

Born and raised in Ogden, Olsen left town in his early 20s for Park City and later the East Coast. The 36-year-old self-described “drummer, woodworker, art dealer and wanderer” moved back about five months ago. He spent much of his adult life as a touring musician — often working with Grammy-caliber artists — and is now playing with the Salt Lake City-based Mokie, a Grateful Dead-inspired tribute band.

Olsen says he’d just gone through “a hard breakup,” and wasn’t even aware of Suzie’s recent local fame when he went in search of an animal companion.

“I’ve been walking around by myself for the last five months, and it finally dawned on me: ‘Let’s get a buddy,’ ” he recalls. “I’d only been thinking about getting a dog for the last month, and about a week ago looked on the (Weber shelter’s) website and saw her photo. She’s a cute dog.”

Olsen wasn’t scared off by Suzie’s health problems. She dropped a lot of weight after arriving at the shelter last spring, and a veterinarian prescribed a probiotic to build up the good bacteria in her digestive system. She’s still underweight.

Olsen thinks Suzie’s biggest problems stem from being in an animal shelter for so long.

“A lot of it is just stress,” he said. “Being in the kennel, pacing back and forth, she just seemed so … bummed. I just think she was depressed.”

And now? Olsen believes Suzie is in a “good place.” He’s got a large fenced-in yard, and their house is just 100 yards from the Taylor Canyon trailhead.

Olsen says Suzie spent her first afternoon away from the shelter just lounging at the house.

“We’re just kind of hanging right now,” he said. “She’s sleeping. I think she just needed to know she wasn’t going to have to spend another night with all those barking dogs.”

Also unbeknownst to Olsen: Haslam says an anonymous donor paid Suzie’s adoption fee in advance. When Olsen went to pay for the dog, shelter workers told him it had already been taken care of.

“I kept trying to give them money and they wouldn’t take it,” he said.

As for Suzie’s future, Olsen says she first needs to put on another 10 pounds. And after that? Since Olsen doesn’t do the “office job thing,” he and Suzie will spend a lot of time hiking the mountains of Northern Utah, and making trips to Southern Utah places like Moab.

“She’ll be a little desert dog,” he said. “We’ll get out a bunch and spend a lot of time outside.”

Olsen says he’s still shaking his head that Suzie hadn’t been adopted long before this.

“She’s so damn cute — I just can’t believe everyone missed out on her,” he said.

And after finally hearing Suzie’s sad tale, Olsen is glad to be a part of this happy ending.

“It makes me feel great how special she is,” he said of his new best friend. “We got a group picture at the shelter before we left, and at the end — when Suzie said goodbye — everyone burst into tears.”

Contact Mark Saal at 801-625-4272, or msaal@standard.net. Follow him on Twitter at @Saalman. Friend him on Facebook at facebook.com/MarkSaal.