Life can sometimes be sad and lonely for shelter dogs, who spend their days in kennels just waiting to get adopted. But these dogs often find real moments of joy: even the simplest things can mean so much to an animal with so little in the world.
Recently, one shelter dog had the best night of his life after managing to break out of his kennel in the middle of the night — and with the place to himself, he played with every toy he could find.
One morning Joyce Ross arrived at work at the Bedford County Humane Society in Pennsylvania. She was surprised to be greeted by one of their dogs, Gilligan, who was out of his kennel.
“I see Gilligan running around all excited, playing, jumping around. I’m like. ‘Gill, how’d you get out?’” she told WTAJ.
She soon realized exactly what Gilligan had been up to: he had been up all night partying with his favorite toys.
The shelter’s rooms and hallways were filled with scattered doggy toys. A now-viral TikTok video shared by the employee shows how many toys were left in his wake — and how overjoyed the dog still was.
“By his look, I saw he was excited and had a great night all night. He was proud, very proud,” Joyce told WTAJ.