Shelter Dog's Reaction to Being Told He Has a Furrever Home Goes Viral

The heartwarming moment when a shelter dog finds out he has been adopted has gone viral.

More than 64,000 people have watched the TikTok video shared by Joe Kay, who is a dog coordinator, foster owner, rescuer, and trainer based in Wooster, Ohio.

More than 9,000 people liked the video shared to @adoptingdogs. Joe can be seen holding an "adopted" card as he approaches the dog's caged room at the independent, non-profit animal shelter called The Wayne County Humane Society in Wooster.

The dog, whose breed is unknown, seems to perk up as Joe gets closer, and the rescue animal then puts his paws on the cage as if to take a closer look at the orange card. The caption refers to the dog as "Mr. Big Guy," who looks thrilled with the news. You can watch it here.

Statistics show that around 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters annually, and of those, about 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats.

Sadly, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has said around 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized - 390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats – per year.

The most recent National Pet Owners Survey has revealed 69 percent of Americans own a dog, while data from The Humane Society of the United States, an American non-profit organization, shows that 40 percent of 128 million U.S households have adopted a dog. This is double the amount of people who acquired their dog from a breeder (21 percent).

It isn't just families, couples or individuals who have dogs, but assisted living facilities too. Newsweek shared the heartwarming story about a rescue dog who became the perfect companion to many elderly people in the U.S.

One TikToker wrote of Mr. Big Guy: "This makes my day seeing how happy they are when they find out someone has adopted them."

"Congratulations, I am so happy for him. He found a loving family; how sweet. Enjoy your new journey with your new family buddy you deserve it!" a TikToker commented, while another wrote: "These videos make my heart happy."

Newsweek has published several shelter-dog stories, some of which have even won "pet of the week," such as Olive, the deaf dog, who understands sign language, and Ghost, the squirrel-chaser.