Grateful Shelter Dog Insists on ‘Holding Hands’ on Ride to Foster Home

When a frightened dog ended up in a Tennessee shelter after her owner died, the grateful pup insisted on holding hands with her rescuer through the entire 2-and-a-half hour drive to her new foster home.

Four-year old Regan was left homeless when her owner died. She was so frightened and confused by her new surroundings that rescuer Kim Mozena Rezac, founder of Goofy Foot Dog Rescue director of animal welfare for Animal Rescue Corps, spent three days visiting Regan and earning her trust.

When she noticed Regan wagging her tail and showing excitement for the first time since arriving at the shelter, Rezac decided to pull her out of the shelter and foster the scared and confused dog in her home until she could find a family of her own.

“You could tell she was scared and afraid. I would go in and give her treats and sit with her and talk,” Rezac said. “Our shelter is wonderful, and our volunteers do such a great job with the animals. But I hated for her to be there if she could be curled up on a couch at my house.”

When Rezac invited Regan into her car for the long drive home, the grateful pup reached over and “held hands” with Rezac – and insisted on holding hands for the entire 2.5 hour drive to her new foster home.

Rezac recorded a few moments of their drive and posted the video to Facebook:

“She wanted to hold my hand the whole way. If I took it away she would paw at it,” Kim Mozena Rezac told TODAY. “She just wanted to be touching.”

Regan held Rezac’s hand in the car during the entire drive home to Huntingdon, Tennessee — all 2 1/2 hours of it.

When the video went viral, Rezac was inundated with applications to adopt the sweet, grateful girl. In only 2 days, Regan found her forever home.

Rezac said she hopes that the people moved by Regan’s video will do two important things. First, put a plan in place for their pets to be taken care of in the event something happens. Regan’s owner was only in her early 50’s, her death was unexpected and she hadn’t put plans into place in the event she couldn’t care for her dog, with the thinking that she had many, many years left.

Secondly, consider adopting a shelter pet. While they may not have a viral video, they’ll have just as much love to give.