A woman has shared the heartwarming moment a friend's dog encountered his long lost sibling in the park, as the furry pair embraced each other.
Libby Pincher said her dad's business partner Dave was out walking his one-year-old black cockapoo Monty in Ayecliffe, County Durham, when he spotted a fellow dog walker with a similar looking pet.
When the two dogs wrapped their paws around each other, the owners began talking. They believe that the two dogs were from the same litter, but hadn't seen one another since moving to separate homes.
In a Twitter post, Libby shared the adorable photos and wrote: "Pls look at what my dad sent me this morning I cannot even".
She included a screenshot of a Whatsapp message from her Dad, reading: "So, Dave was out walking his dog and there was a couple walking towards him with a white version of his dog.
"Turns out they are brother and sister from the same litter. But instead of just playing like they do with other dogs, look at this."
Two photos of the dogs on their back legs show them wrapping their paws around each other, with gleeful expressions.
At the time of writing, Libby's tweet has been liked over 900,000 times, with more than 150,000 retweets.
She told The Standard: "I can’t believe how popular it’s become. I put it on Twitter because everyone obviously loves dogs, but I didn’t expect this popularity. It’s crazy."
One Twitter user wrote: "OMG that brought a tear to my eye."
Another said: "Ahh!! My heart needed this so much today!!"
In reference to the coronavirus lockdown, someone else commented: "This reunion is what I aspire to when we can see our friends again!"
Others shared pictures of their own dogs embracing, and called the charming images "gorgeous".
However, it's still unclear whether dogs from the same litter do genuinely recognise each other after they've been separated.
According to Pets4Home, "whether or not they will recognise each other later in life, after they have been separated for some time, depends on what happens during the crucial stages of the pups’ first few months of life."
If dogs are split up before 16 weeks, or for example at 12 weeks, when puppies are usually re-homed, they're less likely to recognise each other.
