Shelter Dog Thinks He’s Being Sent Back After Day Out – but He’s Wrong

A heartwarming adoption story from Burlington, North Carolina, has gone viral on TikTok, leaving users across the platform in tears.

The clip shared earlier in May under the username @haleighcw_xx, shows the pitbull pup, Ruby, lying on the back of her new owner’s car, driving home from the shelter, Burlington Animal Services, after spending a fun day together.

However, Ruby has no idea what’s happening, as she gazes at the poster with loving eyes, filled with gratitude for the great memories they made together, and a hint of sadness, because she’s thinks she’s going back to her kennel.

“She thinks I’m returning her to the shelter after her dog day out/ sleepover. Little does she know I’m signing her adoption paperwork”, she says in the clip.

“I knew as soon as I took her out of the shelter I wouldn’t be able to return this sweet baby. Welcome to the family, Ruby.” the caption says.

Pitbulls often find themselves struggling to find a new home in shelter, and that is likely due to their reputation for being aggressive.

A study by Arizona State University published in PLOS ONE found that dogs labeled as pitbulls in shelters had three times less chance of getting adopted than other canines because people are afraid of them.

However, once their labels were removed, the same dogs nobody was interested in before were actually getting adopted, which means that the practice of labeling dogs in shelters may be inadvertently penalizing those canines.

Of the millions of dogs that enter shelters across the country each year, pitbulls constitute the majority. According to Rescue Dog Home, pitbulls end up in shelters more than any other dog, and are also euthanized in the greatest numbers too.

Only 1 in 600 pitbulls in shelters ever find a forever home. Moreover, pitbulls make up around around 33 percent of dogs arriving in shelters, and at least 75 percent of shelters euthanize them immediately upon intake.

The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 4.3 million views and 590,200 likes on the platform.

One user, Cawncec, commented: “Well tell her right now… I can’t take that face.”

Alidacloete92 said: “And please get her a pup cup for stressing her out.”

Positivenellyy added: “This is why I can’t do fosters or doggy day outs because then my house will be filled with dogs.”

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

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