Dog Goes to Daycare To Make Friends, Then Owner Looks at Camera

A dog owner from Michigan took her pup to doggy day care hoping that she would start making friends, what she did instead has left internet users in stitches.

In a viral TikTok post shared in November under the username @niknak272727, the minibernedoodle, Maisy, can be seen smiling in the car on the way to day care, but then a second picture shows her looking miserable there, isolating in a corner while the other pups play together a few feet away.

“Signed my puppy up for day-care so she can start making friends and socialize,” reads layover text in the clip. A caption says: She’s 100% my daughter though lol.”

The poster, 24-year-old Nikki Sykora, 24, told Newsweek that she adopted the 1-year-old pup during her second year of dental school at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, and because she is a full-time dental student, she decided to start taking her to day care twice a week so that she can socialize during the day.

“I do not have any other dogs at home, so I was hoping that day care would allow her to learn how to play with other dogs. The day care provides live video footage which can be accessed throughout the day, so I began watching her during my breaks at school. I started to notice that rather than playing with the dogs, she became very attached to the day care workers!

“Maisy is extremely people oriented and is very attached to her humans. She is also very in touch with human emotions, which shapes her hilarious & outgoing personality. I think this video is a reflection of her strong desire to be with her people and her hilarious personality.”

Sykora explained that at the time the picture was taken, Maisy had been going to day care for two months, sometimes staying from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., but still hadn’t gotten used to it.

Despite the pup’s behavior in the clip, the poster said that she will continue sending her to day care when she’s out of the house.

“I much prefer her to be around other people and dogs, opposed to being alone for most of the day—and I think she prefers this too! Her socialization with other dogs has greatly improved since beginning day-care, despite what it looks like in this photo.”

Dr. Harunur Rashid from Vet Advises says that leaving your pup home alone for more than 4-6 hours can lead to boredom, anxiety, and other behavior problems.

So if you work long hours out of the house every day, it’s always best to either leave your pup at day care or get a sitter to spend time with them instead of leaving them alone.

Not all dogs are the same, some are more sociable than others, but there are different types of day care to accommodate all types of canines.

Preventive Vet says that some facilities, known as “dog park style,” have large outdoor areas for the pups to roam free and use up their energy, and these are the best spots for sociable dogs who love playing.

Dogs who are a bit more cautious and scared of high activity will probably enjoy a separate play area style, where dogs are divided into groups based on their personality and energy levels.

Then there is a home-style day care, which is usually in residential settings with very few dogs, which provides a familiar environment for dogs who exhibit signs of separation anxiety or prefer home to day care.

The video quickly went viral on social media and it has so far received over 1.4 million views and 420,300 likes on the platform.

One user, Emilyanneshobbies, commented: “My puppies report card said ‘not interested in playing with the other kids’ once.”

Kaytea said: “I remember bringing my shitzu to dog park and I sat on a bench to watch him play w other dogs only for him to sit next to me and watch the dogs as well.”

_shauna_ added: “That looks like me when you take me somewhere with strangers.”

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.