By Alyce CollinsShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberA rescue dog’s excited reaction to finally leaving the shelter after being adopted has melted hearts across the internet.
TikTok user Joanna Sansan (@joanna.sansan) captured the precious moment while waiting outside Fulton County Animal Services in Atlanta, Georgia. During the clip, the rescue dog, nicknamed Jersey Mike, could be seen leaping and jogging merrily with his new owner as he left the shelter once and for all.
Sansan felt a deep sense of relief during that moment, as she took played a pivotal role in Mike’s rehoming. Sansan fostered Mike “right before his deadline” was up, allowing him to leave the shelter temporarily and stay with her until he found his forever home.
...While it was undoubtedly a bittersweet moment for her, seeing Mike’s joyful reaction meant everything. Sansan shared the footage on TikTok on November 15, and it’s gone viral with over 2 million views and more than 387,700 likes at the time of writing.
Newsweek has contacted Sansan via TikTok for comment. We could not verify the details of the video.
Alongside the clip, Sansan wrote in the TikTok caption that Mike had “all odds against him,” but now he’s finally putting that chapter behind him. “I’m just happy that he’s happy to go home. I love you always Mikey,” the caption continues.
With an estimated 5.8 million cats and dogs entering shelters and rescues across the U.S. every year, many organizations are grappling with the effects of overcrowding. Figures from The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) suggest that 4.2 million shelter animals were adopted in 2024, but sadly they don’t all get a happy ending.
Many shelters across the country euthanize animals that haven’t been adopted in order to cope with overcrowding in their kennels. It’s thought that 607,000 shelter animals were euthanized in 2024, according to the ASPCA.
Mike was almost one of those statistics, until Sansan stepped up and opened her home to foster for the first time. She shared several videos on TikTok from her time with Mike, showing just how content and loving he was with her.
Since the clip of Mike leaving the shelter “with his new dad” was shared online, it’s melted plenty of hearts and left many people fighting back happy tears. In just a matter of days, this has led to more than 830 comments on TikTok already, as internet users hailed Mike’s adorable reaction to finally being chosen.
One comment on the post reads: “May they have an A+ life together.”
Another TikTok user wrote: “You did that. You made a small piece of this world better.”
Another person replied: “You just know that man is going to take great care of that pup.”
While one commenter added: “Look what you did! Healthy happy dog with the promise of a loving home.”
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to [email protected] and they could appear on our site.
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