🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A pet owner has described the moment her heart melted as she watched her friend's son connect with her dog like never before.
Natalie Lueders from Alberta, Canada, adores her pit bull, Roxy. Due to work, though, she often finds herself away from her four-legged friend for extended periods of time.
Fortunately, her friend Daniela Reinhard and her family love Roxy just as much and are too happy to look after their canine friend while Lueders is out of town.
"Roxy spends a good amount of time with them," Lueders told Newsweek. "Daniela's daughter and Roxy are connected at the soul. They love each other so much."
Arlo, Reinhard's son, also loves Roxy, but up until now, Lueders said he was "usually very busy playing with toys" and didn't give Roxy as much attention as his sister did.
Her perception of Arlo and Roxy's relationship was turned upside down after Reinhard sent her a video captured on a pet cam in the house.
In the clip, Arlo can be seen climbing into bed with his napping canine companion. The young boy proceeds to tuck his dog pal in for the night before snuggling down to sleep next to him, quite literally top to tail.
Lueders was overcome with emotion watching the footage.
"My heart filled with warmth when I saw the video, as I do every time she sends me updates," she said. "It makes it easier for me when I have to be away for work in northern Canada."
It's more than just a cute video, though. The care and consideration Arlo exhibits towards Roxy is a reminder of the social and emotional benefits of caring for a dog.
Those benefits were previously underlined in a study published in Pediatric Research which found children who came from families who owned a dog were 23 percent less likely to have emotional difficulties or issues with social interaction compared with those who did not.
The same study found kids from dog-owning households were 30 percent less likely to engage in antisocial behavior and 34 percent more likely to enjoy considerate behaviors like sharing.
Eager to share the footage with fellow dog lovers, Lueders took to TikTok, posting the clip of Arlo's sweet gesture with the caption "all the feels."
The video has already been watched over 400,000 times.
"Beautiful child. Well done parents," one TikTok user wrote, with another person commenting: "This right here is the reality of having a pit bull. They are loving and caring. It's bad owners, not bad dogs."
That comment struck a chord with Lueders.
"I've owned many different dog breeds, but Roxy, my pit bull, is by far the best dog, companion, and friend that I have ever had," she said.
She firmly rebuffs the idea of pit bulls as a dangerous breed and has largely ignored the occasional negative comment on the video suggesting as much.
"Dogs are like kids... if you bring them up with love, they will love. If you show them aggression, that's what they will think is normal," she said. "We should punish the dog owners and not the dog."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
About the writer
Jack Beresford is a Newsweek Senior Internet Culture & Trends Reporter, based in London, UK. His focus is reporting on ... Read more