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Woman Invites Shelter Dog Over for Sleepover–What Happens Next Melts Hearts
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A dog who lived in an animal shelter has finally found her forever home—thanks to a woman who posted a video on TikTok that quickly went viral.
The montage of clips showing how loving and relaxed the white dog, named Princess, is, garnered over 293,000 views on TikTok in just 24 hours (June 29).
The text layered over the video explains that Vivian Powers (@pawsitiveinfluenc), had taken Princess out for the day but then decided to let her stay for a sleepover. She was so impressed by Princess's calm and curious demeanor that she shared the footage online.
An excerpt from the caption says: "I didn't want to take her back to the shelter. I really didn't.
@pawsitiveinfluenc
The morning we woke up, Princess was still curled up in bed. She'd slept through the whole night, and in the morning, she just peeked over at me with the sweetest eyes. I didn't want to take her back to the shelter. I really didn't. My mom looked at me and said, 'Get in front of the camera. Tell people how amazing she is.' So I did. I hit record and shared her story. A few hours later, the shelter called. Someone had seen the video… and they wanted to adopt her. We jumped in the car, and that day, Princess went home. For good. She has a furry brother she adores, and a family who absolutely loves her. She'll never see the inside of a shelter again. 🐶💛 #RescueDog #DogStory #EmotionalRescue #AdoptDontShop #ShelterBreak #RescueGlowUp #PrincessTheDog #fyp #dogsoftiktok #dogvideo ♬ Beautiful Boy Edit - 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙁𝙞𝙡𝙢𝙨
"My mom looked at me and said, 'Get in front of the camera. Tell people how amazing she is.' So I did. I hit record and shared her story.
"A few hours later, the shelter called. Someone had seen the video... and they wanted to adopt her.
"We jumped in the car, and that day, Princess went home. For good.
"She'll never see the inside of a shelter again."
A stock image of a white American Bulldog lays on his side, paws curled up and ear flopping over his head inside his home.
A stock image of a white American Bulldog lays on his side, paws curled up and ear flopping over his head inside his home.
Tara Krauss/iStock/Getty Images Plus
In 2024, 5.8 million dogs and cats entered shelters and rescues—a slight decline from the previous year, with intake evenly split between the two groups, states the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
However, the time animals—especially large dogs—spend in shelters has increased over the past five years, worsening capacity issues and limiting space for newcomers. Although 4.2 million animals were adopted—about the same as the year before—this wasn't enough to meaningfully reduce the overall shelter population nationwide.
Today, social media plays a huge role in promoting the "adopt, don't shop" mantra, with 2.6 million posts using the hashtag on TikTok alone. It's a slogan that encourages people to adopt pets from animal shelters or rescue organizations instead of buying them from breeders or pet stores.
So far, the post has received 31,200 likes and 245 comments, at the time of writing.
One user wrote: "Seriously!?!! Dogs are 14x more likely to get adopted with ANY amount of time out of a shelter environment! Just one video changed her entire life and made space at the shelter for the next deserving dog!"
"Love this happy ending!!" praised another, while a third commenter wrote:
"She's so beautiful! Thank you for helping her find a forever family!"
"This is why we volunteer and foster. You did a great thing!!" said a fourth.
Newsweek reached out to @pawsitiveinfluenc for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.
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