In 2023, dogs are more of a family member than just a pet. One pup that exemplifies this is Simba, who recently hijacked his humans' maternity photoshoot.
In a video posted to the TikTok account @packofpotatoes, Simba the rescue dog can be seen getting involved in the professional photographs. The video has been viewed 6.2 million times, and in it Simba's owner Natalie explained: "So we just got our maternity photos back and they're beautiful don't get me wrong, but there is a problem, and it's exactly the same problem that I posted about a few years ago with our engagement photos. And that problem is that I'm third wheeling my own photoshoot yet again.
"My husband and Simba are having such a nice moment, I don't even need to be there honestly. Look how beautiful they look.
"I feel like they physically couldn't cuddle harder than this."
The video features a series of photos depicting Natalie, her husband and Simba. While Natalie poses for the photos, Simba and her husband only have eyes for each other.
"Congratulations to Sebastian and Simba," Natalie concluded.
Some 85 percent of dog owners consider them to be members of the family, according to a Forbes survey, which also found that almost 40 percent of dog owners lived on a tighter budget to afford their dogs' expenses.
Users on TikTok loved the video.
"I don't know what's the better. The pictures your commentary or the comment section! This is gold!," said one user.
"I don't know if we should blame Simba or your husband for the outcome," commented another user.
Dogs are known as the 'best friend' of the human, and a study of dog DNA from 2020 also found they might be our oldest friends as well.
The analysis discovered that the domestication of dogs can be traced back 11,000 years to the end of the last Ice Age, which confirms that dogs were domesticated before any other known species, including cats and horses.
Speaking to the BBC, Pontus Skoglund, co-author of the study and group leader of the Ancient Genomics laboratory at London's Crick Institute, said: "Dogs are really unique in being this quite strange thing if you think about it, when all people were still hunter gatherers, they domesticate what is really a wild carnivore—wolves are pretty frightening in many parts of the world.
Newsweek has reached out to @packofpotatoes via Instagram for comment.
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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