Dogs are sociable creatures, so it’s no surprise that some pets—like Teddy—seem to have social lives of their own.
A TikTok video shared by owner Paula Clark (@paulaclark59) captures the moment a black Labrador turns up in their backyard and stands at the glass window, much like a neighborhood kid knocking to see if their friend can play.
Clark then shouts: “Teddy your friend is here,” and a white husky appears, heading straight to the door. Both dogs stand wagging their tails as their giggling owner opens it.
They trot off together, running up a snow ramp and over the fence for a “play date,” according to the text layered over the footage, earning 1.2 million views, at the time of writing.
Thousands of users were amused by the dogs’ wholesome routine.
Clark told one user: “They do this every day,” adding, “[it] makes my day!!”
“He has a better social life than I do!” said one user.
Another wrote: “They went off like they had everything planned.”
A third commented: “How teddy understands exactly what you saying and how the friend came to fetch teddy to play, astounds me. They [are] like kids.”
Dogs Can Learn Words in Ways Similar to Toddlers
Indeed, recent research has found that some dogs can learn new words just by overhearing people talk—much like children as young as 18 months.
Researchers discovered that a small group of “gifted word learner” dogs, which already know the names of many different objects, could pick up new words simply by listening to their owners, even when the word and object weren’t shown together.
The findings suggest these exceptional dogs have social and cognitive skills similar to those of an 18‑month‑old child, offering insight into how language‑related abilities may develop in other species.
Nostalgia for 90s Kids
Teddy and his Labrador friend running off brought a wave of nostalgia for those simpler, unplugged days.
“This is like my 90’s childhood,” said a third user.
Another added: “No curfew? no lecture about strangers? Kids today got it easy.”
Newsweek previously spoke to a 35‑year‑old mom who realized her daughter’s childhood looks very different from hers two decades ago.
Talia Hersey said: “There was no internet and no mobile phones back then, we spent almost all our time outside, hanging out in groups and playing games (until our parents called us home for the hundredth time).”
While kids today may spend less time playing outside, at least our dogs are still out there recreating the moments so many social media users grew up with.
Newsweek reached out to @paulaclark59 for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.