“I’ve had about 15 fosters since 2020 and Nacho has been the hardest to say goodbye to,” Katelyn Severt tells PEOPLE

A woman has gone viral on TikTok after sharing that a dog she fell in love with as a foster is now permanently her pet, years later.

Her video — captioned, “Reintroducing Nacho – an adoption story 4.5 years in the making” — has now racked up more than 126,000 views, and offers a look at how one foster dog came back into her life, despite the odds.

Katelyn Severt, 32, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview that she first started fostering dogs in early 2020, when she became a remote worker during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“At the time, I didn’t have any dogs or kids so I had the perfect low-traffic home to let ‘Diamond Dogs’ decompress,” she says, adding that “Diamond Dogs” is a term used by some shelters to describe dogs who are “either extremely shy or very rowdy and need just a little extra ‘polish’ to shine.”

It was in that first year of fostering that she met Nacho, who came to her via the Nebraska Humane Society.

“He was my third, and most rowdy foster,” she adds.

@campkate.co Reintroducing Nacho – an adoption story 4.5 years in the making ✨ When COVID hit in early 2020, I decided to start fostering dogs. I met the behavior team at Nebraska Humane Society and for some reason unbeknownst to me, they entrusted me with fostering diamond dogs 😅 aka diamonds in the rough aka pups with a variety of behavior issues. My first two fosters got adopted quickly. Then I picked up this white-and-black-spotted-blue-eyed-strong-boy named Nacho as my third foster. Somewhere between the bruises he gave me, counters he surfed, bottles of wine he made me drink, and training tip phone calls with NHS behavior team, I fell in love with the little mans. As much as I wanted to adopt, I knew I was a few weeks away from bringing Cash home and I couldn’t fathom owning two large breed dogs at once. Three months into fostering, Nacho was adopted out and for the next four years I wondered about him often. I moved back to Ohio and in June of this year, Cash expectedly passed due to a ruptured tumor. It was rough and I miss her (still). I knew I couldn’t adopt again until it felt right. Fast forward to a week ago, I received a DM from a friend who noticed Nacho (now Raiden) back on NHS’s website. His second stint at NHS was approx 6 weeks as an unclaimed stray and it took me approx 2 seconds after seeing updated photos to know I had to drive back to Nebraska for him. So that’s what I did on Friday. He has been re-named back to Nacho, and is settling in so nicely like the king he is 👑 S/o to everyone who helped make this happen, especially Erica Young for fostering him this week until I could drive out there, @lindsey_anson for driving him halfway to Ohio to meet me, my dad for driving with me to get him. And, of course, Cash Girl because without her I truly don’t think all these pieces would have fallen into place ♥️ #dogreunion #adoptdontshop #rescuedog #nacho #columbus #ohio #omaha #nebraska #humanesociety #nhs #nebraskahumanesociety #columbusdogs #reunited ♬ All That Really Matters – ILLENIUM & Teddy Swims

After three months of fostering Nacho, he was adopted — a bittersweet moment for Severt, who says she had forged “such a bond with him.”

“I’ve had about 15 fosters since 2020 and Nacho has been the hardest to say goodbye to,” she adds.

In 2023, she moved from Nebraska back to her hometown in Ohio — but Nacho remained on her mind.

A few months after her own dog Cash died unexpectedly due to a ruptured tumor. fate intervened when a friend messaged her a screenshot of a familiar face on the Nebraska Humane Society’s website.

“In September 2024, a friend in Omaha messaged me a screenshot of Nacho being back on the Nebraska Humane Society’s website. His name was changed, but the photos were ones I had taken of him when he was in foster with me and my friend recognized them right away,” she says.

So she reached out to some of the volunteers at the shelter, and learned that Nacho had been found as a stray, and had gone unclaimed for more than 40 days.  

After learning that Nacho’s owners had been notified and still did not claim him, “I knew I had to go get him, so that’s what I did,” she says. “One friend picked him up from the shelter and fostered him for three nights until I could drive there, another friend drove him halfway to Ohio, and my dad drove with me to help video the reunion.”

She continues: “I was really struggling after my dog, Cash, passed away. I live alone, so my house was just so incredibly quiet. It sounds silly, but I truly think Cash helped put all the pieces back together so Nacho could come back into my life.”

Meanwhile, Severt continues fostering other dogs — an arrangement that Nacho has taken to well.

“Nacho does so well with other dogs,” Severt says. “He loves to romp around with some, and pass out on the couch with others. He shares his new home so incredibly well.”