Hilarious Pet Cam Captures Dog Spending 'Entire Day Nesting' in Owner's Bed

A video of a dog caught in the act of "making herself at home" in her owner's bed has left users on TikTok in stitches.

The clip shows security-camera footage of the poster's dog playing around in the owner's bed. It was shared by Emma Lee Fitzwater (@brady_mama_), a 33-year-old high-school teacher from North Carolina.

She told Newsweek that 9-year-old rescue dog Harlan "has full range in my house." However, "recently she's been making herself at home, not caring about how I've made the bed!"

So, why does Harlan have such a soft spot for the owner's bed? The poster said it could be because "she loves the smell of us when we're gone." The owner said she and her 5-year-old daughter sleep in the poster's bed and Harlan always sleeps either with them in bed or just under the bed.

The sense of smell is "a principal sensory modality for dogs," according to a January 2020 study published in the International Journal of Comparative Psychology. Its findings, conducted using natural body odor captured on a T-shirt, showed that "dogs habituated to a familiar odor and dishabituated to an unfamiliar odor."

Daniel Marston is a licensed psychologist specializing in cognitive-behavioral therapy. He explained in a September 2020 article for Psychology Today: "What was particularly interesting about this study [the January 2020 one] was that it addressed how dogs reacted and used the smell of a familiar person even if that person was not actually there."

A caption shared with the latest video reads: "Harlan makes herself at home when I'm working all day."

Fitzwater the dog owner said that Harlan is a mix between a Belgian shepherd, Siberian husky, and a chow chow. Her pet was kennel-trained until she was about 3 years old before she was allowed to "roam free" at home in her owner's absence.

The poster said: "She always greets me in the kitchen at the top of the basement steps. I've never caught her in my bed upon getting home from work."

However, one day, when the poster returned home from work, Fitzwater walked into her master bedroom and found that her "bed was a mess," even though she knew "for a fact" that she had made it that morning.

Fitzwater said that sometimes her daughter crawls into the bed with her iPad while the poster cooks dinner. But when asked whether she'd been in the bed, the poster said her daughter replied: "No, Mom. It was Harlan!"

When the owner checked the camera footage, she saw that "sure enough, this crazy pooch spent the entire day nesting in my bed!"

The latest clip showed Harlan rolling around in the bed in various positions, from being sprawled on her stomach to laying on her back with belly exposed and paws up. The pup was also seen sniffing different corners of the bed and shuffling the blanket around before knocking a pillow off the bed and laying down again.

The poster has checked the security footage again since the day captured in the latest video. Harlan "does seem to spend the entire day relaxing in my bed," Fitzwater said, adding "it is a Tempur-Pedic mattress, so I can't fully blame her."

Harlan's love of the bed may also be down to other benefits, such as "when nice sunlight shines in, which she loves to lay in" and being able to look out the window when she's on the bed.

"She's just always been the type of dog to make herself at home, and I love that. She's a rescue, so I've always wanted her to feel like the princess I believe she is," Fitzwater said.

The dog's antics in the latest video has amused users on TikTok, with @userrtfggzjhcc praising the pup with the comment: "Good boy."

User kimbee09 commented: "so cute!" And Robin Bennett759 simply wrote: "nesting."

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.