A golden retriever's independent streak and, probably, desire for more sleep have sent the internet into hysterics.
In a viral Instagram reel, the pup was captured abandoning his dad mid-walk and letting himself back into the owners' property through the front gate. The video, depicting the hilarious "I'm done" moment, has charmed dog owners everywhere and received over 256,000 likes.
"I got a panicked phone call from my husband because the dog walked off," the owner captioned the reel. "I can almost hear him saying...'I am going home and I'm going back to bed.'"
The footage shows the golden retriever, Brooklyn, making a run for home from his early morning stroll. With determination, he trots directly toward his home, even managing to push open the front gate.
The audacity of Brooklyn's actions resonated with Instagram users, many familiar with his antics through his established Instagram presence, who laughed at his clear priorities.
"I am beyond hysterical!" one person wrote. "Brooklyn's like, 'Bye Dad, going home to Mom.' He leisurely walks to the gate, pushes it open like a human. This made my day!"
"The way he swung the door open," another commenter wrote. "This isn't his first time."
Many shared similar anecdotes of their own dogs deciding they'd had enough of a walk or their owners' dawdling.
"My senior dog 'lost' my father on a walk because we kept talking to other people and old doggo doesn't have time for that," another commenter shared. "He sat at our front door...twice."
Another person recalled a similar childhood experience that led to chaos: "My dog did this to me as a teenager," they wrote. "I panicked, went looking for him, didn't want to go home without him. He went home; my parents panicked and came looking for me. This was before mobile phones. I came home in tears, late for school, without the dog, who gleefully grated me at the door. I got the day off school."
The playful interpretation of Brooklyn's motives was a common thread in the comments.
"Doggo said, 'Sorry Dad, I have reached my steps count for the day, I'm off home,'" one user quipped. Another shared a classic dog behavior: "My first dog used to do this. He would get bored if we stopped to chat people and walk back to the house and sit on the step waiting for us."
According to Brooklyn's dedicated Instagram page, he has not been a fan of early morning walks for a while. Another recent video saw Brooklyn collapsed on a bed while his owner tried to rouse him for a walk—this time at 7:00 AM.
Newsweek reached out to @pennyfrance for comment via Instagram.