Derek Schmit’s dog, Dexter, loved playing with Doakes, another dog in their neighborhood. Every day, Doakes, who ran loose, would wait for Derek to get back from work so he could play with Dexter. But one day, Doakes didn’t show up. It turns out he was picked up by animal control and when his family was contacted to retrieve him, they decided to leave him at the animal shelter.
That didn’t sit well with Derek. He shared a short TikTok video of what he decided to do and the video has since been viewed over 8 million times.
In the touching video, Derek is walking through a crowded shelter until he stops in front of one cage. “When I finally found that my neighbors abandoned their dog…,” Derek wrote across the clip, which he posted to his TikTok account. “3 shelters and 4 phone calls later. I found the neighborhood dog and adopted him. We gave him the life he deserves,” he further captioned the clip.
@sunnyvaletrailerpark 3 shelters and 4 phone calls later. I found the neighborhood dog and adopted him, We gave him the life he deserves #dexterdoakes ♬ original sound – Chris Klemens
Derek followed up to explain why he chose to adopt Doakes. He shared another video of Doakes playing with Dexter in which he narrates the story.
“This is the first time Dexter and Doakes met each other,” Derek begins.
“Doakes was a stray in our old neighborhood. He used to wait for us every single day after work to play with Dexter. One day, he didn’t show up because he got picked up by animal control. Turns out he had a family, and they had the option to pay a fee to get him back, and they chose not to,” he continued.
@sunnyvaletrailerpark Reply to @angelanetherton more about how we got doakes #dexterdoakes #storytime ♬ original sound – Sunnyvaletrailerpark
The two dogs are wagging their tails and playing happily together. Derek said that bringing Doakes home was “the best decision” he ever made adding, “Dexter and Doakes get to play forever now.”
Derek also revealed that Dexter came from a similar situation as Doakes. He too was abandoned by his previous owners and Derek rescued him from a shelter.
In another recent TikTok video of the two dogs playing together in their backyard, Derek acknowledges that he “struck gold” with his two fur babies and is so grateful to have them in his life. We think Doakes and Dexter feel the same about him too!
@sunnyvaletrailerpark I love this video #dexterdoakes #shelterdogs #struckgold ♬ original sound – Sunnyvaletrailerpark
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