The second the loving pup sees someone approaching, he pushes his face between the metal bars and reaches out his paw.

“All he wants is people love,” Desiray Miracle-Wilder, the shelter’s director, told The Dodo. “He will reach his little hand out and he just wants you to touch him and hold his hand. And he’s so sad when you walk off to finish cleaning or whatever you have to do.”

Speck has sat unnoticed in a small kennel in the Alabama shelter for a year and a half waiting for a family to choose him. Judging Speck by the scars on his face, you might think the dog would be hardened by years of living on the street, but he couldn’t be more trusting.

“You could put anything else around him — another giant dog, a cat, but he is just so fixated on getting love from people that he doesn’t care about anything else,” Wilder said.

“He just wants you to touch him,” she added. “If you sit down, he’s laying on you, if you hold his hand, he’ll hold your hand, if you scratch his belly, he’ll roll over.”

Last Thursday, Wilder was cleaning the kennels when she was inspired to film the pup’s sweet hand-holding routine.

Hoping to drum up some interest in Speck, she posted the video on her Facebook page, and the clip quickly went viral, gaining 96,000 views in just a few days.

Speck’s video caught the attention of Allie’s Hope For Paws Dog Rescue, who helped connect the shelter dog with an amazing adopter.

“He will be running on a 26-acre farm with Mike, his family and two fur brothers!” Wilder wrote on Facebook. “We are so excited. Not only did Speck get adopted due to this video of his cuteness but he also helped a few other fur babies get rescued and he got us some food donations!”

Now, Speck is waiting for transport so he can finally meet his forever family. He leaves behind a few other long-timers who are still waiting for their chance to find a loving home, but Wilder is hopeful that Speck will inspire people to open their hearts to his friends.