A woman spent four months living with a stranger's dog after collecting the wrong pooch from the groomers. The owner explained how she took her dog, a German Shepherd cross Newfoundland, to the groomers for a trim ahead of the summer months and collected her as normal afterwards.
But before even walking out the door, the woman started to question her dog's behaviour, saying she was acting differently to her normal happy self. However, she put it down to the dog, Emma, being in a stressful environment and thought she would return to 'normal' after relaxing at home.
Speaking to Reddit, the woman said: "When we got her back from her hair cut she began to act very strange. Physically, she was identical but mentally she was not there. She began to get more aggressive. She bit my hand when I would feed her scraps, or she wanted my attention, ignore people whom she knew and was acquainted with.
"This dog bonded to me and ignored my father, brother, and neighbours, and she changed her entire routine with the family."
Still puzzled by her dog's behaviour, the woman once again brushed it off and put it down to an adjustment issue, as Emma was no longer seeing her owner's dad on a regular basis.
"My dog Emma was attached at the hip to my father, she would follow him around day and would even express anxiety whenever he would be away for long periods of time," she added.
"It just so happens that my father had to temporarily live on the opposite side of my state for work.
"And this dog that we had gotten back from the groomers was expressing all of my dog Emma's mannerisms of anxiety of being away from my father - or so we thought."
But after four months of caring for the dog, the woman's mum received an unexpected phone call from the groomer, who explained how there had been an awful mix up.
She said: "For four months, I've been taking care of and loving this dog I was calling Emma who looked exactly like my dog but was somehow different from the Emma I once knew.
"My mother made an off-hand comment about how Emma had been acting almost traumatized-like since we got her back.
"My mother got a call from the groomer. The call consisted of her asking my mother to bring Emma to a meeting at her shop immediately because another dog owner asked her the same question [about their dog's recent unusual behaviour] just the other day.
"The dog that I had been caring for was named Bear, and belonged to a pair of near elderly psychopaths. Their dog is my dogs almost identical twin sister from the same litter."
Although she now has her dog back, the woman has been struggling to come to terms with what happened - and has questioned how the mix up will impact the dogs in the long term.
The groomer, who couldn't be more apologetic about the situation, dropped off gift baskets with a note again explaining how sorry she was this happened.
"I've got my dog back now, and it's really hard to describe this bizarre feeling about the whole situation. I'm sort of shaken about it," she added.
"The current owner of the dog groomers where this whole debacle started with dropped by with an 'I'm very sorry this happened gift-basket', along with a note there was a hundred pound gift card, dog treats for Emma, a new collar for Emma, and some assorted snacks for my family.
"All in all it was a nice gesture, but it comes too late and feels entirely like a small bribe."
Do you have an dog story to share? Email paige.freshwater@reachplc.com.
