A woman returning home from visiting her in-laws realized she had an extra passenger halfway through her hourlong drive.
Mary Trimble, from Washington, was driving home when she received a text from her mother-in-law asking if she had Finn, a chocolate Labrador. Trimble knew she had her two golden retrievers but thought there was “no way” her mother-in-law’s dog was also in the car—until she looked closer.
In a video that has received more than 8.8 million views on TikTok in one day, Trimble said, “I decided to check just to be safe, and anyway, this is Finn.” She then showed viewers the chocolate Labrador in question, who had in fact made his way into her car before she started her journey home.
Screenshots of Mary Trimble’s TikTok video. She explained how she accidentally brought her mother-in-law’s dog home.
Screenshots of Mary Trimble’s TikTok video. She explained how she accidentally brought her mother-in-law’s dog home.
@mtzimny/TikTok
“My husband, our 2-year-old daughter and I were leaving my in-law’s house Saturday night, and it was super dark out. Since Finn is also pretty dark, no one noticed him jump into the car with our two golden retrievers, Aayla and Arlo, and then hide in the shadows,” she told Newsweek.
After receiving the text from her mother-in-law, Trimble “crawled into the back seat to check just in case, and sure enough, he was curled up and sleeping under the legs of one of the goldens.”
She said: “I laughed so hard that I started to cry. We took him home with us because our toddler doesn’t like being in the car, and we didn’t want to add an extra hour to the drive home.”
Trimble continued: “They’d been searching their entire neighborhood for him when they finally texted us, and they were very relieved to hear we had him. Finn will go home Wednesday, but until then, he gets to enjoy playing with the goldens.”
Screenshots of Trimble’s TikTok video showing Finn, a chocolate Labrador. She accidentally brought him home with her after visiting her in-laws over the holidays.
Screenshots of Trimble’s TikTok video showing Finn, a chocolate Labrador. She accidentally brought him home with her after visiting her in-laws over the holidays.
@mtzimny/TikTok
PBS Specialist Pet Travel said in a 2014 blog post that 56 percent of U.S. dog owners transported their pets by car at least once a month. However, 14 percent of pet owners reported transporting their pets longer distances of more than 50 miles.
Trimble’s video has received more than 11,000 comments, with TikTok users expressing their amusement.
“He forgot to tell you that he was not done playing,” one viewer commented.
“This happened to me once,” another added. “I was loading up 6 hound dogs in my car, driving down the road I look in my mirror and was like ‘who are you?’ Someone’s beagle just hopped right in!”
A commenter said: “When you want to spend some more time with your cousin! They definitely planned this.”
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Woman Drives Home After Visiting Mother-in-Law, Then Realizes Who’s in Car
