Man Travels 400 Miles To Give Shelter Dog a Forever Home

A pit bull’s heartwarming journey from the shelter to a loving home has gone viral on social media, and internet users can’t cope with what her new owner had to do to get her.

In a viral TikTok video, shared on Tuesday under the username @peggyadamsarl, the pup is first seen inside her kennel pawing her passersby as if asking to be taken home, impatiently waiting for a new chance at life.

In the second half of the clip, the dog can be seen smiling as she goes on all sorts of fun adventures with her new dad, who drove 400 miles to Palm Beach, Florida, to adopt her, vowing to give her the best life. “Harley is adopted! Many thanks to Harley’s adopter, who made a 400-mile round trip from Tampa to bring her home! What a lucky girl,” the caption reads.

Pit bulls constitute the majority of dogs in shelter across the country, often struggling to get a home. Rescue Dog Home says that pit bulls end up in shelters more than any other breed, and they are euthanized in the greatest numbers as well.

Despite 33 percent of dogs arriving in shelters being pit bulls, only about 1 in 600 in shelters finds a forever home. For the rest of them, there is no hope sometimes. It is estimated that about 75 percent of municipal shelters euthanize pit bulls immediately upon intake.

Many potential owners stay away from pit-bull breeds because of their unearned reputation for aggression. A study by Arizona State University published in PLOS ONE found that dogs labeled pit-bulls in shelters have three times less chance of getting adopted than other canines because people are afraid of them.

Once the labels where removed, however, the same dogs nobody was interested in before were getting adopted.

The video quickly went viral on social media and has so far received over 752,000 views and more than 217,000 likes on the platform.

One user, Nickdundee83, commented: “I took a plane from stl to atl, drove to Arkansas and the 10 hours back home for a rescue. I need him more than he needed me, but for a shorts time we saved each other until he passed of cancer 2 yes ago. miss him every min. of the day.”

Lfmin said: “I swear she’s been waiting her whole life for that man to adopt her. She found her person and it was worth the wait.”

PersimmonTree2 added: “She looks SO happy. Thank you for giving her a good home and happy life, and thank you for sharing the great news!!”

Newsweek reached out to @peggyadamsarl for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.

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