Some viral TikToks are just begging for a movie adaptation, Be that an emotional survival drama, like the woman who was finally reunited with her dog after a fatal car crash, or a twisty-turny crime thriller, like the time that TikToker discovered they were in witness protection when they reached out to their criminal birth mother.
Alternatively, we have the unlikely tale of two doggy daycare customers who took home each others’ identical pooches. In a Netflix rom-com, this would probably lead to the two owners — let’s say it stars Lindsay Lohan as a workaholic advertising executive and Justin Hartley as a charming, laid-back zookeeper — falling for each other over 90 minutes.
In the real world, of course, the mix-up was actually extremely stressful for all involved. Not least the pups in question. TikToker Maddy took to the app to announce that she’d realized the dog she’d been looking after for the past two weeks wasn’t her dog. The mistake happened because she sent her golden retriever puppy, Farley, to a doggy daycare place that had another, almost identical, retriever pup named Charlie (yes, they even have rhyming names).
After seeing a photo of the two dogs together posted on the daycare’s Facebook page, Maddy became convinced that Farley was actually Charlie. As the dogs were so alike, it was hard to find conclusive evidence to back up her belief. The only noticeable physical difference was a tuft of hair on Farley’s snout, that Maddy calls his “mohawk,” which Charlie didn’t have.
As Maddy was driving herself crazy analyzing photos of Farley/Charlie, her boyfriend decided they needed to go the vet to find out once and for all. Sure enough, when the vet scanned for Farley’s microchip and found nothing, it was confirmed Maddy’s suspicions were correct and Farley was actually Charlie.
“I have no idea who has my dog right now, but I hope he’s OK, I hope he’s happy, I hope he’s healthy,” Maddy says in her video, which was recorded prior to her going to see the daycare to sort things out the next morning. “It’s a very sad situation, I am very upset. This dog is probably so confused. I hope Farley’s OK. I hope he’s not confused. And I hope he doesn’t like that other family more than us.”
In a much-needed follow-up, Maddy gave an update on the situation once the two dogs were switched back to their proper families. She explained that the mistake arose from the fact the daycare removed the pups’ collars during playtime, as a safety regulation, without telling the owners and then the wrong collars were put back on the dogs afterward. As for the family that had accidentally taken Farley (as Charlie) home, they had absolutely no idea he wasn’t their dog and were shocked to discover the truth.
The Netflix version would probably end with Justin Hartley rushing to an airport to stop Lindsay Lohan getting on a plane with the wrong dog, but in real life, the whole issue was solved thanks to Maddy having the smarts to get Farley microchipped. See the fictionalized version of the story in Retrieved, coming to streaming this never.
