Most of Liam’s life had been spent in a shelter. Since being brought in as a stray, the next 500 days of his life would be spent in constant rotation of playgroups with other shelter dogs and meeting potential owners who would eventually 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 her on their page. The Great Dane mix video ended up going viral; it currently has over 1,700,000 views.

And it was that social media post that led Liam’s new owner, Cindy Davis of Chattanooga, Tennessee, straight to him,

“I saw the Tik Tok and immediately went to the shelter’s website and asked to adopt him,” Davis said, “I had no problem with the adoption process coming from out of state. I would have traveled hundreds of miles for the chance to adopt him.”

Davis first met Liam on a Friday afternoon at the shelter while taking him for a walk, where she said he was a “crazy boy” with “tons of energy.”

“He was jumping, playing bites and had a serious case of zooms. That’s when I said, ‘I adopt him,’ she said, “I’ve had previous experiences with rescues which were not what they presented as in a shelter.”

Davis explained that now that she had Liam at home, it was exactly the case she thought he would be.

“Now that he’s home, he’s so good,” she said, “He thinks and understands commands. He’s a totally different dog at home than he was at the shelter. .”

She added that the first few days Liam was home were very easy, as if “it felt like he had been part of the family for a long time already”.

“He’s very affectionate and affectionate,” she added.

Some of Liam’s favorite activities in his new home include walks, fetch games, cuddling on his new owner’s sofa or king-size bed and especially car rides.

“Every time we pass my car he stops like, ‘I want to take a ride,'” Davis said, “I drove with him for seven hours to the beach and he was perfect.”

Although Liam has adapted well, Davis said there were some small challenges she would have to train him for.

“He’s scared of children and seems to be scared of men,” she explained, “I’m going to take him to training to work on that fear and interact with other dogs.”

While many pet adopters choose to change the name of their new pet from the one they were given at the shelter, she opted to keep her original name as Liam, saying that he “suits him well”.

Davis also did this to make it easier for people interested in his story to find him on social media. Since her adoption, she has created a Tik Tok account for Liam where those interested in him can follow his new life.

“I wanted to share Liam on Tik Tok so I can help raise more awareness about shelter adoption as a way to see how loving and wonderful shelter dogs are,” she said, “He got a lot of new followers over the past few weeks.”

Davis added that she loves sharing Liam’s life on social media because it allows her to put a smile on people’s faces and “give them something positive, if only for a brief moment.”

“I want people to not judge shelter animals on the first meeting or the first week at home,” she said. “They’ll adapt and be the best pet you could ever ask for. They’re worth a little work and in the end you’ll have a new best friend, just like I found with Liam.”

To follow Liam’s new life, you can visit his Tik Tok page at https://www.tiktok.com/@liam_the_great22.