Those at Dogtown South Africa had prayed for this day.
The day when shelter dog Stevie would find a forever home.
Stevie had been in their shelter for six long years since 2016, but the day finally came when he was free.
After six years of wishing and waiting, 7-year-old Stevie got adopted.
It’s hard to understand why Stevie was in the shelter so long.
The medium-sized male black dog with white markings got along with children and dogs. And he is super cute and sweet-faced.
A Keuka College study may have touched on why poor Stevie stuck around the shelter for so long. According to Companion Animal Psychology, the study found that younger dogs tend to get adopted faster than older dogs.
The color of a dog’s coat didn’t seem to have any effect on their length of stay. The extra small dogs were adopted the quickest, followed by small dogs, then extra large dogs.
Medium-sized dogs were actually found to have the longest stays.
This may be why Stevie had a tough time getting adopted.
But that doesn’t matter now because Stevie finally was adopted into a very loving home where he is absolutely adored.
Since it was such a special day, Stevie got an extra special send-off the day he left the shelter to start his new life.
All of the shelter employees who took care of Stevie and helped him during his shelter stay lined up and applauded him as he walked out of the shelter.
“Stevie has been with us since July 2016. Today we all got to cheer him on as he leaves for his forever home,” a video of Stevie’s goodbye posted on the Dogtown South Africa TikTok page said.
Stevie stopped to greet every single shelter employee on his way down the line.
“He’s like ‘you get a hug and you get a hug and you get a hug,'” said a TikTok commenter.
And you could tell who Stevie’s favorites were.
“Look at his tail. He really loved the last guy in line,” another commenter said.
These are the people who probably gave him extra love and care.
So, Stevie gave them some extra hugs and licks. Stevie looked so happy seeing all his friends.
And they couldn’t have been happier for him.
“We will always love you Stevie,” a video of Stevie’s send-off said.
Stevie’s goodbye video ended up going viral and was liked more than 156,000 times.
“Whoever adopted Stevie is getting the best dog ever. That was awesome,” wrote one commenter.
“He’s telling them all he loves them and won’t forget them, but he’s got his new family to love. This is emotional overload,” said another.
You can watch this emotional overload in the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
@dogtownsa Stevie has been with us since July 2016. Today we all got to cheer him on as he leaves for his forever home ❤️ #dogsoftiktok #shelterdog #adopted #fyp ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
