SC man and his dog Teddy go viral on TikTok taking shelter dogs on adventures. Check it out
South Carolina’s Johnathan Lower has 5.7 million followers on his TikTok account, which features his Golden Retriever, Teddy.
Now he wants to take that clout and help shelter dogs find their way home.
Each week, he will take a shelter dog out for a day to experience the same sorts of adventures as Teddy does each Tuesday.
Pup cup, running free in a field, a toy from a pet store and always, always a grilled chicken taco.
The first Shelter Dog Saturday video was posted last Saturday.
@aguyandagolden Shelter dog Saturday! A new series where we give a shelter dog a Teddy Tuesday like day! Meet Birch, a 2 year old mix that’s been in the shelter for months! #dogs ♬ Music Instrument - Gerhard Siagian
It featured Birch, almost 2 years old, who was surrendered by his former owner to Anderson PAWS more than five months ago — 162 days ago to be exact.
The video exudes joy. He seemed especially happy running in a field and slurping up that pup cup. He stared at some ducks and selected a squirrel toy from PetSmart, all the while wagging his tail.
Monday morning, an Upstate man whose friend saw the video in California was waiting when the shelter opened. At long last, Birch had a home.
Lower received hundreds of messages about Birch, as did the shelter.
The next installment is being filmed Friday to be posted Saturday. Lower said he has asked the shelter staff to pick a dog that has been there for a while.
The idea for Shelter Dog Saturdays came from Lower’s fiance, Katelyn, who adopted Archie from a shelter. He was found on a South Carolina coastal golf course. He was introduced in a TikTok video earlier this week.
Lower began his TikTok account about two years ago with videos of an indoor dog house he built Teddy in a house where he lived in Anderson. It was a simple slideshow demonstrating before and after. Fifty million views later, he decided to build a better dog house in his new house in Piedmont.
It’s pretty fancy. A built in dog bed with storage drawers underneath, a television, heating and air conditioning, a Ring doorbell, fireplace and shelves with potted plants. It is built into a closet under the stairs. Lower is often shown crawling in the dog door — there is a “human door,” he says — to settle in for movie night.
It’s also a place where the usually chill dog can hide from fireworks and thunderstorms.
Next came the Teddy Tuesday series. And an Instagram page, and a month ago a YouTube page (100,000 followers already). All told, he estimates his posts have garnered billions of views.
He’s been approached by television producers, book publishers, apparel designers as well as the most lucrative social media money makers — brands. So far he’s had deals with Febreze, Farmer’s Dog (which of course Teddy eats), PetSmart and Roomba.
It’s been so successful, he has quite his day job as a Realtor. His fiance, too, has quit her job to work with Lower.
What started as something fun to do has morphed into a mission. Lower hopes to bring attention to overcrowding in shelters and to benefit the overall health of pets.
He has donated tens of thousands of dollars in collars, food and assorted dog stuff. And at year end, he and his followers donated truckloads of food to Anderson PAWS, which was getting dangerously low on food.
“This has become a world-wide brand,” he said. “This may not be forever, Just riding the wave.”
