Dog Walker Arrives, Has 'Absolute Worst Feeling' Over What She Finds

Newsweek

19 hours ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Dogs are often the first ones to greet you as you walk into a home, but when one dog walker arrived at an eerily quiet house, panic set in.
Sarah, a dog walker known on Instagram as @dallas_dog_walker, arrived at a client's house to take the canine on a walk, a dog she's worked with plenty of times before. She told Newsweek via email that Tate is "ALWAYS at the door waiting" for her, but when she arrived this time, she could tell something was off.
"When he wasn't there, my first thought was, 'Am I supposed to be here?'" she said.
She mixed up days before and showed up at the house when Tate didn't need a walk, running into his owner. That's when she called for his owners before stepping in further. But when no one answered, she was overcome with the "absolute worst feeling."
In her June 10 Instagram video, she listed out possible scenarios going through her mind—is he home, is he ok and what would she find?
"He didn't make any noise, which leads me to believe he wasn't stuck in the bathroom and crying out for help," she said. "The door was cracked, so ultimately he could've gotten out."
She walked through the house, searching for Tate. His dog bed was empty. Toys were scattered on the ground. Sarah eventually found a door cracked open. She pushed it forward and was finally greeted by Tate's excited jumping body and his nonstop wagging tail.
"...he chose to give me a mini heart attack," Sarah said.
Screenshots from a June 10 Instagram video of a dog walker going through a panic when the canine didn't greet her at the door.
Screenshots from a June 10 Instagram video of a dog walker going through a panic when the canine didn't greet her at the door.
@dallas_dog_walker/Instagram
She sat on the ground after finding Tate, trying to get her "heart rate back to normal." Meanwhile, Tate couldn't stop jumping up to give Sarah kisses. He has no idea the slight panic he caused that made her heart sink.
"I did tell his parents about what happened prior to posting online," she said. "I am a dog walker first, content creator second. I make sure my parents are aware of what happens during our walks as opposed to finding out online!"
Viewer Reactions
The Instagram video amassed over 55,600 views, 3,323 likes and 23 comments within two days of posting.
"He said, 'Hide & seek. Now you hide,'" wrote one viewer.
Others understood Sarah's pain: "I've felt that before! Turns out the dog was just in the backyard. Scared the life out of me."
A third person commented: "As a dog walker, my heart STOPS when this happens."
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