GRAND LEDGE, Mich. — Social media can have a huge impact on finding people and reconnecting those searching for long lost friends or family, which is why Kerri Gallagher made a TikTok hoping that power will reach the man that gave her, her four-legged best friend eight years ago.
Roy, according to Gallagher and most who meet him, is the goodest boy.
“He's half Beagle and half Italian Greyhound,” Gallagher said.
He loves the typical dog things like vegetables, fruits and food in general, but he especially loves his humans.
“Every night, he sleeps in bed with me and my husband, and he curls up right at my feet,” Gallagher said.
But Roy didn't have the typical adoption story.
“We decided that this is where he needed to be,” Gallagher said.
When Gallagher went to pick up her dog from Nana-N-Paws, she found a young man named Lukas in his car.
“I just kind of knocked on the window and said, 'Are you trying to give away your dog?'” Gallagher said.
Lukas had to unexpectedly move home and could no longer keep Roy, and she directed him to a local Humane Society.
"He was like, 'Oh my gosh, thank you,' and they drove off,” Gallagher said.
As Gallagher drove home, she realized Roy had left a paw-sized mark on her heart.
“I just kept like asking my husband like, 'What do you think is going to happen to that dog?'” she said.
Then, fate stepped in.
“I got a phone call from Nana-N-Paws saying, 'Hey, you forgot your wallet here,'" Gallagher said. "So, I had to go back and get my wallet.”
When Gallagher got back, she called the number Lukas left at the desk.
“I said, 'We met in the parking lot, and I just want to let you know that if Lukas will take Roy back to Nana-N-Paws, I'll go pick up Roy, and I'll take care of him and we'll find him a good home,'” Gallagher said.
Gallagher took Roy in with every intent to foster him until he found his forever home.
“I tried to find home for him for about, I don't know, four days,” Gallagher said.
But soon her home was his home.
“He just made himself so at home here,” Gallagher said.
Eight years later, Gallagher still thinks about Lukas, so she made a TikTok showing Roy in his element hoping it would reach him.
“I just thought, 'Oh my god, if Lukas could just see this, and know that he was good and know that he's okay,'" Gallagher said. “Maybe, you know, every once in a while we all like that confirmation that hey, you know, that tough decision you had to make? It was a good one.”
Gallagher wanted to show him he did the right thing. The TikTok blew up over night with almost 300,000 views and thousands of comments rooting for Lukas and Roy to reunite.
“Roy's good," Gallagher said. "He landed on his feet. He's very spoiled. He's very loved. He's very well taken care of.”
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