‘Such a sweet boy.’ SC rescue dog holds new mom’s hand on way home from shelter in viral video
Loki the rescue dog recently gained a new family in South Carolina.
And a few million fans on TikTok too.
Abigail Arellano posted a TikTok video last week of Loki after she had adopted the 1-year-old dog from the Oconee Regional Humane Society in Seneca. In the short video, Loki is shown sitting up in the passenger seat of Arellano’s car, staring at his new mom as his front paw rests in her hand.
“I just adopted this dog and he held my hand the whole way home,” Arellano wrote in the corner of the video. “He’s such a sweet boy.”
The video garnered 6.9 million views in six days.
@abigailada12 He’s such a sweet boy #shelterdog #adoptdontshop #rescuedog #sweet #adoption #shelter #dogsoftiktok #muttsoftiktok ♬ Sky Aesthetic - Tollan Kim
Arellano works as a veterinary technician for the clinic that aids the shelter Loki came from, she said in a followup video. Arellano explained that Loki was sick soon after arriving at the shelter.
@abigailada12 Replying to @dietrat801 #greenscreen update on Loki!! Hes settling in great and happy to have a home. We repeated some bloodwork and are waiting on those results to make sure everything will be good. Let me know if anyone wants updates on him or the shelter pets!! #shelterdogs #rescuedog #update #adoptdontshop #vettechtok #shelter #dogsoftiktok #love #pitbullsoftiktok ♬ Sky Aesthetic - Tollan Kim
“He was on anti-nausea meds, everything like that,” Arellano said. “He needed somewhere to go home because he couldn’t stay at the clinic all the time … he was too sick to go back to the adoption floor.”
Arellano ended up fostering Loki after convincing her husband that she wouldn’t get attached to him and want to keep him.
“I did get attached and I did want to keep him,” she said.
Loki hit it off with the family’s other dog and instantly loved Arellano’s young son. Soon enough, Arellano began begging her husband to let them keep Loki, only for him to refuse.
Arellano eventually took Loki back to the shelter, but while there, she called her husband to ask him one final time if they could keep the dog. He said “fine,” but no more fosters.
“So I got to keep him. Hence the video of me driving back home with him and him holding my hand,” she said.
