Tiki Has Been Adopted! Everyone’s Favorite TikTok Foster Dog Has a New Home
Tiki, the beloved TikTok foster dog from Brooklyn who stole hearts across social media, has officially been adopted! Watch the video!
Two short months ago, foster dog mom Isabel Klee brought home a severely terrified foster pup named Tiki and began to share their story on TikTok. The Brooklyn foster pup mom introduced us to a small petrified dog who captured the hearts of not only New Yorkers but people around the country.
Scroll down to watch the adoption video!
Tiki was so shut down that he wouldn’t even leave his bed or eat for fear of being handled by people. He was one of a group of dogs that had been rescued from a harrowing situation. This wasn’t the first foster dog that Klee shared on her TikTok page. There had been several before, each of which needed steady and gentle love and healing, something that Klee exudes easily.
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Klee started fostering dogs around age 25 because, as she puts it, she was “too broke” to have one of her own. Fostering through Muddy Paws Rescue gave her the best of both worlds: time with dogs without the financial stress, since the organization covered everything. She quickly fell in love with it and ended up adopting her fifth foster, Simon. After that, she took a break to focus on his medical needs.
Years later, with a new apartment and a backyard, Isabel felt it was the perfect time to start fostering again, with Simon as her little sidekick. Not long after, she got a call about a group of dogs rescued from a neglect case. One stood out: a pup named Tiki, described as the most shut down of the bunch. Without hesitation, she said, “That’s the one I want.”
Tiki Was a Very Complicated Case
Tiki’s case, however, was unlike anything Isabel had encountered before. He was so shut down that several behaviorists believed he might be beyond rehabilitation but that didn’t stop her.
“Unfortunately, that’s sometimes the reality in rescue,” explained Klee. “Some dogs have just been through too much trauma, and they can’t come back from it. A lot of people thought that was going to be Tiki’s outcome.”
When Klee brought Tiki home, he didn’t leave his bed or eat for a couple of days. There were several days when it looked like Tiki might not progress, and Klee herself wondered if he was perhaps too far gone to heal.
“He was cowering, shaking like a leaf,” Klee recalls. “His eyes — everyone knows him now for his little ‘mask’ — had been shaved, and he was crusty all over. He wouldn’t allow any handling, so they couldn’t clean him, bathe him or do much medical care. If anyone tried, he would bite or lose control of his bowels.”
“When I brought him home, he literally didn’t leave his bed for two or three days,” she said. “He didn’t eat, didn’t go to the bathroom — he just stayed curled up and slept.”
Tiki’s TikTok Journey
Little by little, there were the tiniest bits of improvement. He would lift his head to sniff when Klee walked by, and then he would leave his bed at night. The first time he ate cheese, viewers cheered. Then he started eating every day. It would be a while before he allowed Klee to pet him and even longer before he would allow her to put him on her lap.
His whole story has been the best baby steps in real time. Each day, viewers sign on and can’t wait to see what new milestone Tiki has reached. On Sunday, Tiki took his first walk outside on a leash.
Today, Klee shared a video announcing that Tiki has been adopted. His new home will be with a New York couple who have two other dogs and a fenced-in backyard so he can run and play.
Watch Tiki’s heartfelt goodbye here and meet his new family… grab some tissues before you do!
@simonsits Day 44 with Tiki: It’s time for our boy’s next chapter. I will have a Tiki shaped hole in my heart forever. Thank you for being here with us. GO FOLLOW TIKI’S NEW PAGE – @tikiplustwo! Now let’s go save the next dog ❤️ @Muddy Paws Rescue @ASPCA
To the thousands of fans who sign on each day to see what Tiki is up to, it’s both a day we’ve all been waiting for and a day, but tough nonetheless. If you’ve been worried that Tiki won’t be on TikTok anymore, his new family made a TikTok to keep his story going.
Tiki’s story has gracefully shown the value of fostering dogs. When coming from a neglectful or abusive situation, dogs need patience and love from skilled people before they’re ready to be adopted into their forever home. “Everyone can do it. It doesn’t take anything exceptional,” says Klee. “I’m just a normal person with a job, living in New York City — just like so many others. And there are so many dogs who need to get out of shelters.”
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