A dog’s sudden and dramatic realization that her “owner” isn’t who she thought they were has taken the internet by storm.
In a viral TikTok video, user @zeeboebii shared footage of her identical twin sister letting the dog out of her crate. At first, the dog runs straight toward the woman filming, seemingly without hesitation.
But the moment she reaches out her hand, the dog abruptly pulls back and starts barking in alarm.
The clip, posted with the overlay text “Watch my identical twin’s dog realize that I’m not her,” has received over 18.8 million views and 3.9 million likes.
“She usually barks at people as soon as they walk in the house apparently,” the poster added in the caption.
While TikTok users delighted in the uncanny moment and flooded the comments with jokes, experts urge caution before jumping to conclusions about what’s really going on in the dog’s mind.
Annie Grossman, per diem behavior specialist at the ASPCA Adoption Center, told Newsweek that it’s unlikely the dog’s reaction can be fully explained by the presence of an identical twin. She warned against assuming the dog was responding specifically to the visual similarity.
Grossman explained that it’s natural for humans to want to connect the dots in a way that makes the behavior seem easily understandable—particularly because a person might be startled by someone who looks exactly like their caregiver. But, she said: “we have no way to know what the dog is truly experiencing here.”
“What the dog’s past experience is with the people in the room. If she has had unpleasant dealing with the twin in the past, that would be one reason for this reaction; it’s also possible she has this kind of reaction to her own owner, and is responding in just the same way she would if the door opening-twin and the one filming were switched,” she said.
@zeeboebii/@zeeboebii
She also pointed out:
- Scent may play a large role. Although identical twins share genetic makeup and may have similar scent profiles, individual grooming products and environmental factors can affect how they smell. Without specific scent training, the dog might not distinguish them easily.
- The dog’s body language already signaled discomfort. As soon as she exited the crate, her ears were back, her tail was low, and the whites of her eyes were visible—suggesting unease before she even approached the person.
- Context matters. If the dog isn’t used to someone standing nearby when she’s let out of her crate, she might have reacted the same way to anyone unfamiliar. The barking could have been delayed by the presence of her actual owner.
Despite the expert skepticism, TikTok users couldn’t get enough of the mix-up.
“Wait now I need a compilation of dogs reacting to twins,” wrote one viewer.
“Excuse me mom, I have to go say hi to mom… WAIT!” joked another.
“Me when I follow a random man at a mall that I thought was my dad,” one user quipped.
“Google when you log into a different device,” added Gabriel Martinez.
“IMPOSTER,” exclaimed Sonika.
“Looks like mom, DOES NOT SMELL LIKE MOM,” wrote Brittany.
And another summed it up with: “She said I see my people, but I don’t smell my people.”
Newsweek reached out to @zeeboebii for comment via TikTok. We could not verify the details of the case.
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