Man left talking to dog on FaceTime after girlfriend falls asleep

2019-02-09 13:55 Last Updated At：13:55

‘I watched Leo walk over to the phone and stare directly into my eyes.’

A boyfriend’s video phonecall with his sleepy girlfriend has delivered him to viral stardom, after she fell asleep and her dog took over the conversation.

Sam Stine was on FaceTime with Brookelyn Bilski, whose dog Leo walked over into the view of the camera after she had drifted off.

my girlfriend fell asleep and me n the dog jus been talkin… pic.twitter.com/ZDqsx69syb

— sam (@spicegirlsam) February 6, 2019

“I watched Leo walk over to the phone and stare directly into my eyes,” Mr Stine, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, told the Press Association.

The post of four-year-old Leo on the phone call has been shared tens of thousands of times on Twitter and inspired others to share similar moments with their remote animals.

she said: ᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃᵃ pic.twitter.com/zxvUOhhhB8

— Maria Fernanda (@Ugghmaria) February 7, 2019

pic.twitter.com/J1n7hh8KDO

— Pedro Ramos (@PedrooDamiann) February 7, 2019

“I’m really surprised by the amount of attention the post got,” added Mr Stine. “Really glad people appreciate Leo as much as we do.”

Mr Stine said he had a “deep conversation about mental health and our feelings” with Leo.

Viral videos of dogs called a 'Himalayan fur goblin' and 'teacup werewolf' boost adoptions

2025-03-22 21:05 Last Updated At：21:23

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — For over a decade, Adrian Budnick has taken adoption photos of the dogs at Nashville's county animal shelter, but it wasn't until the COVID pandemic that an idea came to her.

As one of only a few people allowed to visit in-person, she could take videos of dogs, inventing humorous nicknames and capturing their individual personalities, for an audience of potential adopters.

First came her TikToks playing the persona of Anita Walker, a fast-talking, cowboy boot-wearing purveyor of certified pre-owned pets. Then she struck gold with the “What's this then?” series — short videos featuring goofy dog names that drew in viewers and boosted adoptions.

“It was kind of just on a whim,” Budnick said. “We had this — I’m assuming it was like a poodle-doodle situation, and he was really big and lanky."

People often assume the shelter doesn't have fluffy dogs, so Budnick adopted what she calls her “Karen” voice — slightly bored and complaining — when she looked into the camera to say: “The shelter only has pit bulls.”

“And then I held up this giant curly dog with legs and the tongue hanging out. And I was like, ‘What’s this then?'"

She called it a "Himalayan fur goblin."

The video “exploded over night,” Budnick said. So much so that she went back the next day to make another one “because I’m like, I can’t let this go.”

Since then she has promoted the adoption of such imaginative dog breeds as the “Teacup werewolf” and the “Speckled freckled cuddle calf.” Then there's the “French baguette long lady” and the “Creamsicle push-up pup.”

The shelter does get its share of pit bull mixes. A December video featuring several of them in festive costumes with Budnick singing “I Want a Pitt-o-potomous for Christmas” has been viewed more than 5 million times.

While it is gratifying to gain visibility, Budnick said, the real payoff is in the adoptions. Data provided by the shelter shows dog adoptions increased by just over 25% between 2021 and 2024.

“We’ll get calls from all over. And it’s not just local here to Tennessee even," said Metro Animal Care and Control Director Ashley Harrington. “We’ve had an adopter from Canada. We’ve had ones from states all over."

She said people often call asking about a specific, made-up dog breed from one of the videos. "It’s been pretty great, and it’s been fun for our staff."

The popularity of Budnick's videos have also led to donations of both money and supplies. Letters to the shelter referencing her videos are taped to a wall in the volunteer room.

Still, like many other shelters in the South, it's overcrowded.

Budnick has one thing to say about that situation: “Spay and neuter, spay and neuter, spay and neuter.”

Budnick started taking photos as a kid. While on camping trips, she'd take nature pictures with a 35 mm Canon AE-1. In high school she took photography classes and learned to make her own prints in a darkroom. But eventually she stopped taking pictures.

That changed when she adopted a dog.

“When I got Ruby, my 13-year-old, she was five weeks old, and I started taking pictures of her," she said. A few months later, Budnick adopted Ruby's sister, and a few months after that she began as a volunteer photographer at the shelter. "So really, my dogs got me back into it.”

With her photos and videos, Budnick fights against the stigma that the shelter is a sad place with dogs no one would want. In many of the videos, she holds even the large dogs in her arms and gets her face licked.

“You see them running around in the videos when they’re in playgroup, and you see them cuddling, and you see their goofy smiles when I’m holding them, and it just really showcases them," she said.

Budnick's success has been noticed. She loves it when other shelters copy her ideas, or even lip sync over her videos while showing their own dogs, but she's not interested in taking on more work. She has a regular job in addition to volunteering for the shelter between 7-10 hours each week, but she doesn't mind the long hours.

“I’m just having fun,” she said. "I absolutely love dogs. I think they’re the best thing on earth.”