A dog looking completely defeated while sitting in a Florida animal shelter after being surrendered a second time shattered people’s hearts.
Four-year-old Kya first arrived at the Humane Society of Broward County in May 2024 because her family was moving and couldn’t bring her along, Cherie Wachter, vice president of marketing, told Newsweek. Although sweet and playful, Kya sat and waited for two and a half months before an adopter stepped forward. She was home free, but not forever.
Wachter said those adopters tried working with her during the decompression period—the time a dog needs to adjust to its new environment and family. However, after over a month, Kya still had not adjusted. Kya had “high anxiety” and became “destructive.” Toward the end of their time with Kya, they realized they couldn’t handle such an “energetic pup,” putting her back in the same spot to hopefully be adopted out again.
The humane society’s September 30 TikTok video (@humanebroward) showed Kya curled up in her kennel. Defeated, her eyes filled with sadness as she looked at the person filming. She was defeated, giving up hope that her forever family would come forward, and she became another number added to the millions of animals that enter animal shelters yearly.
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 6.3 million pets enter U.S. shelters each year, an average of 17,260 a day. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet “Shelter Watch Report” found.
Screenshots from a TikTok video of a defeated shelter dog sitting inside her kennel. The dog was surrendered a month after adoption for being too “energetic.”
@humanebroward/TikTok
Around 920,000 surrendered animals are euthanized every year. Shelters are striving to minimize euthanasia rates by promoting adoption campaigns, spaying and neutering programs, and behavior rehabilitation.
Luckily, Kya didn’t wait long in the shelter a second time. It was about two weeks before her now owner traveled nearly eight hours roundtrip to bring her home.
Kya’s now-owner, Dennis Simons, saw her on social media and instantly knew she was his dog. Wachter said he wrote that he hoped she would still be there when he arrived the next day. Thankfully, she was, and he brought her home with him.
He’s since updated the shelter, saying “she’s amazing” and that he’s lucky to have her.
“Her personality has just grown,” Simons told Newsweek. “We had her a month today and she’s been just doing excellent.”
As far as anxiety, Simons said he discovered Kya has “high separation anxiety when she’s crated.” Simons thinks Kya experienced trauma in a crate for extended periods. She’s fine when the door is open, but she gets anxious as soon as the family leaves.
He said they learned to allow her to have her space, and instead, the family’s other dog will go into the crate while they’re gone. Otherwise, she’s a “gentle, precious soul.”
Viewer Reactions
With over 3.5 million views on TikTok, people were gutted to hear Kya’s story of getting surrendered a second time.
“She must’ve been thinking what did I do wrong,” said one person, while another wrote: “It’s heartbreaking. These animals don’t ask for this.”
But once they heard she had been adopted, they couldn’t contain their excitement: “God bless you. You are super awesome. Thank you for giving this precious fur baby its forever home…”
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