Animal lovers are obsessed with a golden retriever who had a visceral reaction to arriving at his favorite place.
Charlie the golden retriever lives in Montreal with his owner, Lauren Lieberman, but the pair regularly travel together, with Lieberman sharing videos of their adventures to her TikTok account, @laurenandcody.
Lieberman’s dog is already a bit of a social media star, having gone viral multiple times for his sulking reactions to his owner bringing out a suitcase, as he knows it means she’s going away.
However, sometimes the suitcase means they’re going on a trip together—and this was one of those times, as they traveled to Stowe, Vermont, to visit friends.
“He is obsessed,” Lieberman told Newsweek. “Even when I say the word Vermont, or Stowe, he gets so excited. As soon as we enter Stowe, he starts to get really jittery and antsy and starts to cry, because he’s so excited he can smell it in the air!”
And Lieberman doesn’t blame him, as she described the Vermont town as “literally a golden retriever’s heaven,” with many dog-friendly restaurants in the “beautiful, quaint town.”
Now a video of Charlie realizing they were arriving in Stowe has gone viral, as he couldn’t hold still with excitement, despite still being in the car.
In a clip posted on September 30 and viewed more than 1.4 million times, Lieberman showed what she described as “when your golden retriever finally realizes the suitcase meant he was coming with us to his favorite place…and he had a full meltdown once we got there.”
Charlie sits quietly in the back seat with Lieberman behind him, but suddenly makes a move to the window, sticking his head out, moving his legs and body, as Lieberman asks excitedly: “Are we in your favorite place in all of the world?”
Charlie starts whimpering and wagging his tail, stomping his feet, and at one point even appears to be trying to jump out of the window—but Lieberman luckily has a tight grip of his leash, and she laughs delightedly at his reaction.
Lieberman assured viewers that Charlie had worn a seat belt for the full three-hour journey from Canada, but as soon as they entered the gated community they were visiting, she unbuckled him “because he loves to stick his head out the window, and we were only driving 20 km per hour (12 miles) so he was safe—I was also still holding his leash.”
TikTok users loved it, flocking to the video in their droves, where one commenter joked: “He knows he could run faster than the car. That’s why he’s trying to get out lol.”
Another said Charlie was reacting: “Wait wait…this place smells familiar,” as one joked he was saying: “Can’t this car go faster?”
And one commenter jokingly suggested: “Part 2 it turns out it was a trick and they went to the vet.”
Lieberman told Newsweek: “Every time I bring the suitcase out, he gets so nervous. He thinks I’m leaving him, but whenever we go to Stowe, he comes with and doesn’t seem to understand the difference.”
She said Charlie’s reaction every time they approach Stowe is “just priceless.”
“And on top of it, I feel so good watching him feel so happy—so it’s a win-win for both of us.”
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.
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