Owner Returns Home To Find Wrong Dog Wearing Vet Cone, Pet Cam Reveals All

A dog owner was left stunned when she woke one morning to see her two dogs, but bizarrely found the wrong pet wearing a medical cone. It wasn’t until it happened again, and was caught on a petcam, that she realized how it had happened.

“I woke up Friday morning to the cone on Cooper and was so confused,” owner Lacey MacFarlane, from North Carolina, told Newsweek. “Then when I came home from work and the cone was back on Cooper again, I took the picture of him smiling with it on to show my friends—I had just told them about my confusion that morning when he did it the first time.”

After going swimming, 8-year-old golden retriever Tucker had developed an ear infection. To stop their younger golden retriever Cooper from licking his ears, Tucker had a medical cone. But their owner wasn’t banking on the young pup’s antics.

When MacFarlane arrived home from work and found Cooper waring the cone again, she was inspired to check the petcams, which revealed all.

At precisely 11:06 a.m., Tucker, an 8-year-old golden retriever, was dutifully wearing his medical cone. But by 11:39 a.m., surveillance footage showed that Tucker’s cone had magically vanished—thanks to none other than Cooper.

Within 10 minutes, he had taken the cone off his brother and dragged it to the couch where he began playing with it like a new toy.

By 11:50 a.m., his nose had gone in, and soon after, the cone was stuck. Cooper, in true golden retriever fashion, didn’t panic for long, and by 12:00 p.m., he had embraced his new look.

The final twist came at 3:00 p.m., when MacFarlane returned home to find Cooper happily wearing the cone like it had been his all along.

While Cooper seemed more than keen to take the collar for himself, other dogs are less enthusiastic about the cone, sometimes referred to as ‘the cone of shame’.

“Although it may look silly, wearing a cone can be incredibly distressing for dogs,” the American Kennel Club (AKC) says.

The site shared seven training steps for owners to practice and get their dogs acclimatized to the cone, ready for the day when they will inevitably need to wear one.

“Most dogs will need a cone at one point or another. And if they’ve never seen one before, it most likely won’t go well,” the AKC website added.

After realizing what happened, MacFarlane had to share the antics on TikTok where the video has been viewed over 6 million times since being shared earlier this week.

In the comments, people shared their reactions. “What did we do before cameras? This would have been an unsolvable mystery haha,” said Plants_on-plants.

While Amber Lynne wrote: “The fact that he got the cone off Tucker and onto himself in approximately 45 mins is astonishing!”

Others were sure the situation would have completely thrown them. Like Dakota who said: “I would have gaslit myself into thinking I put the cone on the wrong dog lol.”

“He’s looking at you like you would not guess what happened,” joked Ezzzy.

“I used TikTok to help put the footage together easily to share the video with the timestamps to my friends,” MacFarlane said. “I love sharing the wholesome video and love everyone enjoying the dogs’ antics.”

As for Cooper? “He has not let the fame go to his head and continues to be his same goofy self,” she said.

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.