Moment Rescue Dog Realizes She's in a 'Good Place' Melts Hearts

A social media video of a woman embracing her rescue puppy for the very first time has tugged at heartstrings across the internet.

The viral video, which has been viewed more than 297,000 times to date, introduced the world to Maple the rescue dog who had been rehomed from Texas to live with her new family in New England.

"Maple is a 3 and a half month old puppy who we've rescued from San Antonio in Texas," Maple's owner Jacqueline told Newsweek.

"She travelled in the van for three days up to Connecticut to meet me. I drove from Western Massachusetts to pick her up. She has been the sweetest puppy ever! I did a DNA test and discovered that she's a total mutt. Her test results showed that she's mixed with Chihuahua, toy poodle, pit bull terrier, chow chow and miniature pinscher."

Jacqueline said in the post that Maple quickly made herself at home, sharing footage of the puppy jumping into her new bed. "She knows she's in a good place now," Jacqueline wrote across the video.

"I'm a dental hygienist and science writer, and I bring Maple to work with me. She sits up at the front desk during the day and greets the patients," she added.

What Are the Stats on Rescue Animals?

Each year 6.3 million pets are surrendered to U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet 'Shelter Watch Report' found.

Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and behavior rehabilitation.

What Do the Comments Say?

Since it was shared to the social media platform on August 31 by @SweeeetLikeMaple, the TikTok post has been liked by over 35,000 users and commented on more than 1,300 times. Plenty of TikTok users have gushed over the adorable moment in the post's comment section, and praised Jacqueline for adopting the puppy.

"Thank you for adopting," one user wrote.

Another user added: "So cute when she handed the pup over to you and the pup wagged it's tail."

"She is precious and you saved her," shared a third user.

A different TikToker commented: "Thank you for the smile and happy tears."

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.