In a viral TikTok video, a formerly discarded pit bull who used to live on the streets, gets her very own birthday party—her reaction to it melts hearts.
The heartwarming video, shared in February by @forlivandlemons, shows the emotional pup almost crying of happiness as she gets pampered on her special day by her owner and her girlfriends.
Not only did the pup, whose face in the clip can be seen covered in glitter and stickers, receive lots of presents, she also received an enormous amount of pets from everyone, reminding her that she is now safe and loved.
“Going from being a discarded breeder dog, surviving on the streets, to experiencing true girlhood,” the caption says.
Pit bull breeds often face unfair treatment because of their unearned reputation for aggression. A study by Arizona State University published in PLOS ONE found that dogs labeled as pit bulls in shelters have three times less chance of getting adopted than other canines because people are afraid of them.
However, the same study found that when labels were removed, the same dogs nobody was interested in before were getting adopted, meaning the practice of labeling dogs in shelters may be inadvertently penalizing those canines.
Contrary to what many people believe, pit bulls don’t naturally have a bad temperament, and are not inherently vicious.
Union Lake Veterinary Hospital explains that a dog’s behavior isn’t determined by breed, as individual temperament is shaped by training, socialization, and experiences.
Larger dogs’ fights are reported more than small dogs’, though small breeds can be aggressive too—any dog can act aggressively without proper guidance.
Raising a well‑behaved dog requires positive training, avoiding encouragement of rough behavior, early socialization, awareness of triggers, supervision, and seeking veterinary advice to support healthy development and prevent issues from arising in their daily home environment routine.
The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 15.8 million views and 4.1 million likes on the platform.
One user, Barbie, commented: “She was meant to live a girlhood life.”
Briana P said: “This is what I thought animal testing was BTW.”
Audrey marino added: “The way she is looking at every single person.”
Newsweek reached out to @forlivandlemons for comment via TikTok comments. We could not verify the details of the case.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.