Shelter dog Liam finally has a new home after 500 days – Gadsden Times

Most of Liam’s life had been spent in a shelter. Since he was brought in as a stray, the next 500 days of his life would be spent in a constant rotation of play groups with other shelter dogs and meeting potential owners who would ultimately reject him.
That was the case until a few weeks ago, when the Humane Society Pet Rescue and Adoption Center in Gadsden chose to post a Tik Tok about him on their page. The video of the great dane mix ended up going viral; it currently has more than 1,700,000 views.
And it was this social media post that led Liam’s new owner, Cindy Davis of Chattanooga, Tennessee, right to him,
“I saw the Tik Tok and immediately went to the shelter website and applied to adopt him,” Davis said, “I didn’t have any issues with the adoption process coming from out of state. I would’ve driven hundreds of miles to get the chance to adopt him.”
Davis first met Liam on a Friday afternoon at the shelter by going on a walk with him, where she said he was a “crazy boy” with “tons of energy.”
“He was jumping, play biting and had a serious case of the zoomies. That’s when I said, “I’m adopting him,” she said, “I have had previous experiences with rescues who were not what they presented themselves as in a shelter setting.”
Davis explained that now that she has Liam at home, that was exactly the case she thought he would be.
“Now that he’s at home he is so good,” she said, “He minds and understands commands. He’s a totally different dog at home than he was in the shelter.”
She added that the first few days of having Liam home were very easy, as if “it was like he had already been a part of the family for a long time.”
“He’s very loving and affectionate,” she added.
Some of Liam’s favorite activities in his new home includes going on walks, playing fetch, cuddling on the couch or his new owner’s king-sized bed and especially going on car rides.
“Every time we pass my car he stops as if to say “I want to go on a ride,” Davis remarked, “I drove with him for seven hours to go to the beach and he was perfect.”
Even though Liam has adjusted well, Davis did say that there were some small challenges she would have to train him out of.
“He is afraid of children and seems to be fearful of men,” she explained, “I will be taking him to training to work on that fear as well as interacting with other dogs.”
While many pet adopters choose to change the name of their new pet from the one given to them at the shelter, she chose to keep his original name as Liam, saying it “just fits him.”
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Davis also did this as a way for people interested in his story to find him easier on social media. Since his adoption, she has set up a Tik Tok account for Liam where those interested in him can keep up with his new life.
“I wanted to share Liam on Tik Tok so I could help bring more awareness to adopting from shelters as a way to see just how loving and wonderful shelter dogs are,” she said, “He’s gotten a lot of new followers within the past few weeks.”
Davis added that she has loved sharing Liam’s life on social media, as it allows for her to make people smile and “give them something positive if just for a brief moment.”
“I want people to not judge shelter animals in the first meeting or the first week at home,” she said, “They will adjust and be the best animal you could ever ask for. They are worth a little work and in the end you will have a new best friend, just like I have found with Liam.”
To keep up with Liam’s new life, you can visit his Tik Tok page at https://www.tiktok.com/@liam_the_great22.

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