Larry the dog is a viral sensation, bringing in thousands of dollars to help a local shelter
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A litter of puppies was found abandoned on the side of the road earlier this week near Crandon. As a local woman was driving to work, she stumbled upon one, Larry, who she now gets to call her own.
She tweeted a picture of Larry, which soon went viral and led to thousands of dollars in donations for the Forest County Humane Society. On Friday, Larry was officially adopted by his savior.
"I thought maybe it's a bear cub or a raccoon, or something like that. And then it walked down into the road and I realized that it was a very tiny puppy," said Tegan Griffith, Larry's new mom and savior. She spotted Larry in a ditch, and although a self-proclaimed cat person, she rescued him.
In true Wisconsin fashion, she lured him with cheese.
"I went into my lunchbox to find some snacks, I had some cheese in there and that's all I really had. And that's how I convinced him to get into my jeep," said Griffith.
After contacting the sheriff's department, she was directed to the Forest County Humane Society, that shared some surprising news.
"Jay from Forest County Humane Society called me and said 'well you're not going to believe it but you found number four!' And I was in disbelief," said Griffith.
"They knew each other, the puppies. They played together instantly, they're all the same size, they're all the same age, they're all pretty much the same color," said Jay Schaefer, the President of the Forest County Humane Society.
Griffith took a picture of Larry and tweeted it, sharing his story. It went viral, getting responses from all over the world.
"It wasn't my intent to go viral, I don't think anybody ever really intends to go viral like this. But it was a good story, it was a cute puppy," said Griffith.
She added a link to the humane society, and to the surprise of everyone the donations came flooding in.
"I was texting Tegan, and I was like it's not a few donations, it's thousands of dollars in donations! And she's like oh my gosh that's amazing," said Angie Schaefer, the shelter manager.
"So when something like this happens, it really blows us away. Because that's all time we don't have to spend saving aluminum cans and working the resale shop so we can spend with the animals," said Jay.
Griffith officially adopted Larry on Friday, and her little viral pup is making people smile all over the world.
"That's a really positive impact you know, that this little puppy could turn things around for somebody halfway across the world," said Griffith.
Larry has three sisters that were also rescued from the side of the road; Aurora, Jasmine and Mulan. They were named after Disney princesses. But in addition to those three pups, the shelter has other wonderful dogs that all need forever homes.
If you would like to adopt one of the pups or donate to the shelter, you can go to the Forest County Humane Society's website by clicking
. You can find more information on the dogs available at the Humane Society's Facebook page by clicking
.