'Adorable' Rescue Dog Who 'Spent Hours Every Day' Looking Out Window for a Family Gets Adopted (Exclusive)

Steven Tyler found a family the same day the Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento posted a TikTok about the dog's window gazing habit

After weeks of searching, Steven Tyler has finally found his pack!

The brown and white rescue dog arrived at Bradshaw Animal Shelter in Sacramento, California, in July 2023 after a Good Samaritan found the canine wandering near a high school alone. After no one came to claim the dog from the shelter, the rescue made Steven Tyler available for adoption.

"He was shy and unsure when he first came in, but as he developed relationships with some of our staff and volunteers, we were able to see his playful and goofy side. He also loved playgroups and spending time with other dogs," Luna Anona, the public information officer for Sacramento County Animal Care Services/Bradshaw Animal Shelter, tells PEOPLE of Steven Tyler's first few weeks at the shelter.

Shortly after Steven Tyler moved into the shelter, the rescue's staff noticed that the dog had a touching habit — he could often be found staring out the window of his room.

"He must have spent hours every day just looking out of the window. It really was like he was just waiting patiently for someone to ask to meet him," Anona says, adding that the only things "you would find him doing would be resting his chin on the window sill and gazing out into the front lobby, or cuddling up to his kennel mate."

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The Bradshaw Animal Shelter was confident that this loving pup — who opted to snuggle with his kennel mate on her bed over sleeping alone — would make a perfect pet for a family looking for an affectionate furry friend. So, the shelter posted a video on TikTok of Steven Tyler staring longingly out his window.

"Every day, this dog waits at the animal shelter like this for someone to adopt him," the shelter wrote over the social media video.

"We thought he was just so adorable, but it was getting hard to walk past him looking like that every day! We thought if we could show more people what we were seeing, someone would fall in love with him the way we had," Anona says of why the shelter posted the video.

The heartwrenching clip received over 2 million views between Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. It also spread the dog's story across the internet.

"Views are nice, but they don't always mean that anything has changed for the pet. There are so many videos of adoptable pets that gain traction across the world every day, but at the end of the day, that pet is still waiting at the shelter. However, that wasn't the case here: after two months of sitting by the window, that one video actually got him adopted the very day we posted it. We can't put into words how ecstatic we were," Anona says.

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On Sept. 29, the same day the Bradshaw Animal Shelter posted Steven Tyler's clip, a family that saw the video came in to adopt the dog.

"We actually saw them leave a comment saying they were going to come in to meet him, and they actually came in! They have two children, ages 5 and 2, and a female dog that they had adopted the year before. Steven Tyler got along with their dog and was great with the kids from the get-go. Their 5-year-old is a huge animal lover, and Steven Tyler seemed to really connect with her. Overall, it couldn't have been a better fit," Anona says of what happened next.

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The adopters renamed the canine Donner and instantly welcomed the pup into their family. The dog now has his own Instagram account and fits right in with his new family.

"We couldn't have asked for a better outcome for him. They say it feels like he's been there forever," Anona shares.

The dog's video also led to a second adoption. Another animal lover who saw Steven Tyler's viral clip came into the shelter to adopt the canine after he had already gone home with his new family, so the pet parent opted to adopt Steven Tyler's cuddly kennel mate Helga Hufflepup instead.

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Anona hopes that Steven Tyler's success story encourages others to adopt.

"We hope people realize how many wonderful family pets are waiting at animal shelters right now! We want animal shelters to be the very first place you think of when you think of adding a pet to your family," she says.

For those unable to adopt, Anona suggests following your local animal shelters online and sharing their posts on social media to help other pets find their forever homes.

"At some point, somebody is going to see a TikTok, or a Reel, or a photo that someone else shared and be like, "I want to adopt this dog." In the case of Steven Tyler and Helga Hufflepup, the usual foot traffic at the shelter and on our website wasn't enough to find them a home. They were there for months! But suddenly, people start sharing a video they're in, and they both find homes in the same weekend. That's pretty incredible," she says.

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