Tears at how foster dog looks at woman after 24 hours together

A shelter dog looking at her foster owner with nothing but love and gratitude during their first day together has melted hearts online.

When Kami Thomas, 30, visited the Fulton County Animal Services on June 1, she only planned to take a shelter dog out for the day. She’d heard about their Dog for The Day program in partnership with the LifeLine Animal Project, and it seemed like a nice way to spend time with a dog while also giving them some much-needed space from the shelter.

Thomas of Atlanta, Georgia, sadly lost her dog Myla in March after nearly a decade together, so she wanted some quality puppy time. When she arrived at the shelter, she met Vivian, a pit bull mix who was so loving and trusting. Thomas told Newsweek that she knew straight away “she’s the one.”

She offered to take Vivian out for the day, but as she’d recently been spayed, she wasn’t part of the program. Thankfully though, the shelter had an even better idea.

“They said she’d just got spayed and couldn’t do Dog for The Day, however we could do a little spaycation and she could chill and relax,” Thomas said. “The second we took her out of the kennel, she immediately sunk to the ground and went belly up for pats and rubs. It was then that I knew that she was a really special, trusting, kind dog.”

Vivian is believed to be around 2 years old, and she was brought in as a stray. Not much is known about her past, but Thomas doesn’t believe she’s had much human interaction before given how in awe she is of simple objects like a television or a ceiling fan.

Thomas only intended to keep Vivian for a couple of days, but within 24 hours together, it was clear that they’d already formed an incredible bond. Thomas captured a video showing Vivian laying beside her on the couch and looking at her with such gratitude and love in her eyes.

“When I took the TikTok of her practically in my lap, I thought there’s no way I can drop her back off at the shelter in a couple days. She looked like she needed me, and I thought this poor thing needs a safe place, a soft bed, someone to give her belly rubs and a sense of calm. I never wanted to foster, but it just happened,” Thomas continued.

She decided to keep Vivian for slightly longer than planned and used it to train her, help her decompress, and to advocate for shelter dogs.

On June 3, Thomas posted the video showing Vivian’s look of pure love on TikTok (@kamithomas) and it went viral with over 2.7 million views and 570,400 likes at the time of writing.

While it did cross her mind to keep Vivian permanently, it’s sadly not a possibility because Thomas is relocating to New York in July.

“Vivian ended up sleeping in bed with me, and when I left the house all I could think was that I have to get home to hang out with Vivian. She became my shadow and my little best friend,” Thomas told Newsweek.

Following the online interest, Vivian was adopted at the end of June. It was bittersweet for Thomas to say goodbye, but she’s so glad to know that her foster dog has found a loving forever home.

They developed such a close bond during their month together, and Thomas is already missing Vivian so deeply.

She documented much of her time with Vivian on TikTok and shared the good news about her adoption.

Thomas said: “Thousands of people commented for me to keep her, so I know some people may be disappointed she was adopted. But this allows me to continue fostering and advocating for more dogs to find their furever homes. I hope it also inspired someone out there to maybe try fostering too.”

Thomas is incredibly grateful to the LifeLine Animal Project in Georgia for saving innocent lives and helping shelter dogs find the right family for them. If anything comes from Vivian’s journey, Thomas hopes it will encourage others to adopt a pet and offer them a second chance.

In just a matter of weeks, the viral video of Vivian has generated over 4,900 comments on TikTok so far.

One commenter wrote: “Coming from someone who works at a rescue I can’t imagine the amount of peace, happiness, and safety those babies feel when they get to go to a foster, thank you.”

Another person replied: “girl, she’s yours.”

While another comment reads: “She looks at you with love and is eternally grateful for you.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? We want to see the best ones! Send them in to life@newsweek.com and they could appear on our site.