Watch Heartwarming Moment Dogs and Grandparents Reunited After 18 Months

The moment two Chihuahua-mix dogs were reunited with their human grandparents has melted hearts online.

Rescue dogs Betty and Bean's big reunion has been viewed thousands of times on TikTok.

The dogs' owners Julie and Matt live in London where they moved from Canada in 2020.

"Betty and Bean are a bonded rescue pair from Texas," Julie told Newsweek. "They were found by Texas animal control in the same city, on the exact same day, but separately. The records show they were put in the same kennel at a typical American dog shelter where dogs are only given a few days to be claimed before they are put down."

Due to overcrowding in the shelter, the girls were put in the same crate before they were found by new owner Julie who lived in Canada at the time.

"The rescue has too many dogs in Texas to home, so they have a Canadian branch that works with volunteers to bus some of the dogs up to Canada where they can find homes. That's how we found Betty and Bean," she said. "We adopted them in December of 2018. They had never had a forever family and they were about 2 years old when we adopted them."

When they relocated to London in 2020, the dogs of course came along for the ride. But the move meant that they wouldn't see Julie's parents again for 18 months.

"When we relocated to London it was July of 2020 amidst the pandemic and it was literally the tiniest window of time when travel was allowed again," said Julie. "We didn't realize at the time that visiting Canada or my parents coming to visit us in London would be so unbelievably hard and scary. It seemed forever before both countries opened for travel and of course that my parents felt comfortable enough to get on a plane. So it wasn't until the fall of 2021 when they finally could come and see our new home."

But when the dogs saw their grandparents, it was like no time had passed at all.

"Betty and Bean will typically bark if someone comes to the flat that they don't know. But as you can see in the video they are so excited and sniffing and running around—they must have recognized my parents' smell," said Julie.

But do dogs really remember people? Science shows that dogs definitely have memory. In 2016, researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest asked 17 dog owners to teach their pets a trick called "do as I do." Dogs learned that, for example, when their owner jumped in the air, they should copy on the command "do it."

While learning this trick proved some form of memory in dos, the next phase was to teach them to lie down after watching their owner perform a certain action, such as opening an umbrella.

After learning both, the owners surprised their dogs by performing an action and commanding "do it," so that the dog had to recall what they had seen their owner do and mimic it.

The dogs successfully copied their owner's actions in 33 of 35 trials, suggesting that dogs have some episodic memory and ability to recall certain things.

But anyone who has arrived home after being away to greet their dog will be able to tell you how excited they can be to see you—particularly if surprised.

Dogs do recognize people too—but not in the way you might think. While research has shown that dogs are capable of recognizing human faces, this information isn't their first priority. Instead, dogs are more likely to recognize their owners and friends through smell.

"Betty rolled on her back straight away and she literally peed with excitement. You can hear her whimpering in the original video," said Julie. "Bean couldn't contain herself and just kept running in and out of the flat like a little comet."

Seeing her dogs' reactions to being reunited with her parents, Julie was thrilled: "I felt joy, excitement, love and sadness all at the same time! It was so amazing to see the love that Betty and Bean had for their grandparents. And how even though they had moved to this new place and hadn't been able to see them for so long, they clearly remembered them and knew they were their family," she said. "These two little dogs who had no one, now had this beautiful little family and even time and distance couldn't change the bond they had formed."

After a difficult start, Julie is thrilled that Betty and Bean are now living their best life in a loving home.

"We'd do anything for them," she said. "Having come from where they did and having overcome that kind of stress and trauma is no small thing. And yet they have turned into these sweet dogs with personalities and they are just such good girls."

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