Woman Goes to Shelter To Adopt Small Dog, Comes Out With 'Gentle Giant'

A dog owner has melted hearts all over the internet after sharing the story of how she adopted her new addition to the family in a clip that has since gone viral on social media.

In the viral video, shared on TikTok on Thursday, under the username Team5tempo, the woman, who can be seen lying in bed as her new pup sleeps with his head on her shoulder, explained that she initially went to the shelter to adopt a small dog for companionship but her plans quickly changed.

She said: "This is Max. Max was rescued from our local shelter two weeks ago. We have a black Lab already, and I've been thinking about getting another dog for a while. Our Lab is a hunter, and I wanted a small little dog that would stay with me as a companion for me when my husband went hunting.

"We looked at two dogs at the shelter, you can only look at three a day because they were having a big adoption event, and we were gonna look at another third small dog when my daughter said she wanted to know which dog had been there the longest and who could come home with us that same day.

"They will fix the dogs before they're adopted out so the dogs we were looking at were not spayed or neutered. It would be a couple of weeks before we could actually take them home. Max here was just fixed six days or seven days prior to our visit."

The poster and her family also happened to bring their family dog with them to the shelter because they knew she needed to meet any new potential sibling—it was love at first sight.

"Our dog is never really around other dogs, so she was a little cautious but fine," she added. "And the manager at the rescue said he couldn't believe how well Max was doing. Max had met a couple of other dogs and the manager didn't like the reaction so he wouldn't approve the adoption, but he said he had absolutely no concerns about this one."

The shelter told the poster that Max was likely a shepherd Lab mix. The poster thinks he might have some Great Dane in him, because he's enormous, although he is currently a little underweight and is working on getting into shape.

"Look at this sweet boy, I'm so in love with him. He is so incredibly smart, he is so incredibly kind, and loving, and he's just a perfect example to adopt to save these pups. Max was in the shelter for a little over a month," she added.

The heartwarming clip comes with a caption that says: "Meet Maxamoose! We rescued him almost 2 weeks ago. He is exactly where he is meant to be. Our gentle giant!"

Shelters across the country are overwhelmed with dogs of all kinds, but some of them end up in there far more than others. The most commonly found dogs in shelters are pit bulls, followed by Labrador retrievers and German shepherds, according to the Pedigree website. Surprisingly, dachshunds and Chihuahuas are also common dogs to find in shelters.

Each year 6.3 million pets enter U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and behavior rehabilitation.

The video quickly went viral across TikTok. It has so far received over 248,000 views and 20,800 likes on the platform.

One user, MichelleAnn, commented: "DNA test please!" And AVNX Josh said: "I promise he's 100% good boy. Purebred." Frscalav added: "I think he's pretending to sleep so that he can hear all the sweet things you're saying about him."

Newsweek reached out to Team5tempo for comment via TikTok chat. We could not verify the details of the case.

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