Heartbreaking footage of the moment a recently-adopted dog tries to pluck up the courage to enter her new home has got people welling up online.
Gina Thornton is a Texas realtor by day. She’s negotiated on any number of property deals but by far the most significant agreement she’s reached to date is the one that brought Ms. Desi Lu, a basset hound mix, into her life.
Thornton, who works in the Tomball and Houston area of Texas, took to TikTok, posting under the handle ginasellstexas, to share a clip of the moment Desi Lu arrived at her new forever home.
But while her adoption is undoubtedly a cause for celebration, it was clear from the footage that the rescue pup would need some time to adapt to her new life.
It’s not clear what Desi Lu’s life was like before she entered the shelter. Newsweek made several attempts to contact Thornton for comment without receiving a response.
Whatever the case, the rescue dog’s previous experience has undoubtedly left its mark. In the clip, Desi Lu can be seen cowering in the doorway to Thornton’s apartment.
“She was scared to come in but I assured her it was okay,” Thornton writes on the video, with the footage cutting to Desi Lu nervously walking around her new owner’s kitchen. The video, which has been viewed 1.2 million times and had people in tears, can be watched here.
Adopting a rescue dog requires patience, particularly in the months immediately following their arrival. Stick with it though and the rewards are there.
That much was gleaned from a 2023 study published in PLoS ONE examining the changing behaviors of newly-adopted dogs. As part of the research, 99 new adopters were asked to complete a survey one week after taking their dogs home followed up by additional questionnaires.
They found that after 180 days, while stranger-directed aggression, excitability, touch sensitivity, training difficulty, and chasing increased, separation-related behaviors, attachment and attention-seeking decreased and owners reported high satisfaction with their dogs’ behavior.
Shelter dogs all have their own unique individual struggles and while they might not always immediately adjust to a new environment, giving them time, space and love ensures they have the best chance of doing exactly that.
That’s proven to be the case with Desi Lu. In a follow-up video filmed a few weeks after that nervous initial arrival, Thornton showed how the basset hound mix is beginning to come out of her shell”Slowly I’ve seen her playful side come out here and there,” Thornton wrote alongside a follow-up video showing the young pup looking considerably less nervous. “She follows me around the house and bats her paw at me when I come home.”