A video of an abandoned dog found inside a shopping cart originally ruffled feathers with viewers before they heard the happy ending of the canine reuniting with his owner.
TikTok user @dee_yes_suh was running late to a doctor’s appointment when she and a friend spotted a dog alone outside a Phoenix grocery store. Instead of carrying on, they stopped to help the abandoned dog by getting him food and water, which he scarfed down, and they gave him the extra sweatshirts they had in the back of the car.
The women learned from the grocery store employees that the dog had been outside in the cold since at least 5 a.m., one explained in her November 21 video. This immediately upset viewers, who flooded the comment section with questions asking how people could leave him and how the employees did nothing. Plus, they expressed their frustration with the person who abandoned him.
But a follow-up video informed viewers of the good news—social media helped connect him to his owner. Some people were concerned he was going back to his family, thinking they were the ones who abandoned him, but the rescuer informed them otherwise.
“The dog ran out of the house, and the owner couldn’t locate him,” she wrote in a comment. “We don’t know who may have found him and placed the dog in the cart.”
@dee_yes_suh/TikTok
Before the reunion, they called a local shelter to inform them about the dog. The shelter came to pick him up and he stayed there until the precious reunion with his owner. The woman went to the shelter the next day to check in on him.
Thankfully, her video about finding the dog reached the owner before he was posted in the shelter’s system. Found animals are placed on stray holds before they are put up for adoption. This gives owners a chance to reclaim their lost pets. The stray hold plus some social media magic led to the happy ending for this doggo.
In a comment on the follow-up video, the woman said: “The owner contacted every shelter to search for the dog, but since it takes three days for the dog to be posted in the system, his friend happened to see my video and sent it to him immediately.”
The TikTok video quickly reached 1.4 million views, 178,000 likes and 1,669 comments as of Tuesday.
“Thank you for helping please rescue him,” said a viewer.
Another asked: “And no one took the dog ??!!! I would’ve taken the dog in an instant heartbeat.”
A third echoed: “If I ever see an animal that needs help, I always bring them home and no matter what I’m going through or if I don’t have a lot to take care for it. But I will never leave them.”
Newsweek reached out to @dee_yes_suh via TikTok for additional comment.