A marine and volunteer dog trainer named Wesley Swainston is going viral for doing his part to help shelter dogs.
Videos by InspireMore
Wesley has been raising awareness about dogs in North Carolina who are waiting for forever homes with his TikTok page called Forthedogs, and he recently made waves by starting a new trend—running with shelter dogs.
He first brought the idea to light in March when he recorded a video of him taking each dog in his local shelter out for one-on-one bonding and exercise. In just five days, it earned 2 million views.
Wesley’s idea served two purposes. One, it gave the dogs much-needed time out of the kennel. Two, it highlighted each adoptable pet for prospective owners.
“I love running, and I volunteer at my shelter every day after work,” he told Newsweek. “I’m an active duty USMC Officer. When I get out in a year, I will be a traveling trainer!”
“I train dogs at Adoption First Jacksonville NC,” he continued. “My mission as a volunteer trainer is not to ‘train’ the dog but to show people who their dog COULD be. People don’t understand that a shelter employee’s job isn’t to exercise the dogs. That’s where volunteers come in. Dogs are meant to run and move, it truly makes a difference in their lives and it makes it way easier for me to train them and work with them.”
Marine’s Video Has Helped Several Dogs Find Forever Homes
Of course, animal lovers can’t get over Wesley’s selfless efforts to give dogs love and homes. His video earned so much attention that he started recording more runs, and it’s already helping. One follow-up video showed that two of his dogs “went on trial” one day after his initial post.
“Why not get some miles in that also changes lives? It’s a blast! If my videos go viral usually the dog doesn’t struggle with adoption!”
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