‘The king of his castle’: There’s spoiled, and then there’s this doted-upon diva of a dog

Some people love dogs, and some treat them like royalty — spoiling them with gourmet treats, plush beds, and more attention than most humans get. To these devoted owners, no request is too extravagant if it means keeping their furry companions happy.

One TikTok user has fallen head over heels for their neighbor’s dog — a pup who’s clearly living the dream — and went so far as to create an entire account (@my_neighbours_dog_) solely for the purpose of posting videos of the dog’s movement up and down the stairs. The staircase is perfectly visible from a nearby window, and in one of the posted videos with the caption, “the king of his castle,” the dog is seen slowly gliding up the stairs on a mechanical lift attached to the handrail. To top it all off, the dog has an animal-printed blanket and a plush teddy bear with him. “Obsessed with my neighbours dog,” the text on the video read.

The TikTok video has racked up over 63 million views, with thousands of users commenting on how the dog is truly living his best life. Some speculated about what might be running through his mind as he glided up the stairs and spotted someone recording him. “He said ‘oh look the poor’,” one wrote, with another adding, “the paparazzi is filming again.” As of writing, the account has five videos — all of the dog going either up or down the stairs on his posh elevator.

It turns out, the mystery dog is named Eddie, and his fur mom is Gwen van Poorten (@gwenvanpoorten) from Amsterdam. With Eddie’s video from her neighbor’s POV going viral, Gwen quickly realized that her four-legged baby is now TikTok famous. Embracing the moment, she posted a video introducing herself, writing she’s 35 years old, doesn’t have any children, but has a dog with a roller coaster, referring to the stair lift that Eddie uses. The video she posted shows Eddie riding his roller coaster up and down the stairs as Gwen pushes a remote control, and users were ecstatic to have finally seen Eddie in action from a different point of view.

In another post, Gwen formally introduced Eddie to her anonymous neighbor, writing, “right back at ya neighbour, meet my dog EDDIE.” In the caption, she wrote in Dutch that perhaps the curious neighbor could come and meet her and Eddie. One commenter asked why the neighbor’s POV looked like it was taken from the sidewalk, and Gwen replied that it must have been someone recording while passing her home, as she didn’t have neighbors nearby.

This is particularly heartwarming to see at a time when there has been a rapid spike in pet parents abandoning their pets in the Netherlands, with 48% of animal aid organizations reporting an increase in the number of surrendered animals (which doesn’t include the ones heartlessly abandoned), as per a survey by Stichting DierenLot, a Dutch animal care foundation.

Many users who discovered Gwen’s profile after following the My Neighbour’s Dog TikTok account were thrilled to finally meet Eddie, joking that they had become friendly stalkers through the neighbor’s viral video. One user commented that Eddie had brought joy to millions on TikTok, to which Gwen responded that she and Eddie were “overwhelmed with joy” by the outpouring of love from the online community.

As of writing, Eddie and his friendly neighborhood admirer have yet to meet, but for those eagerly following this wholesome saga, only time will tell if the beloved dog and his biggest fan finally cross paths without a window in between them.