A New Jersey mom has shared adorable footage of her 3-year-old son having a “heart-to-heart” with their rescue dog after he ran away.
Teresa Valente caught her son Jack quietly chatting to their new dog Alfie early one morning before they left to go to school. “The night before Alfie, who had been adopted from a rescue organization only a few weeks earlier, had gotten out of the yard, and we had to chase him down the street,” Valente told Newsweek.
“Luckily, we brought him back home safe and sound, but it led to a conversation with Jack about being careful when opening doors or making sure the gate was closed when we were in the yard.” That conversation made a big impression on Jack.
Though some parents might be hesitant to introduce a dog into a family with young children, research has identified numerous benefits to doing so. In 2020, a study published in the journal Pediatric Research, based on an analysis of over 1,600 children aged from 2 to 5, found kids in dog‑owning families had 23 percent fewer difficulties with emotions and social interactions and were 30 percent less likely to have conduct problems compared to children without canines.
Though Alfie had only been with the family for a short period of time, Jack’s response was a remarkably measured one for a child his age. He decided to sit down and talk things through with his canine companion. “Jack decided he needed to have a heart-to-heart with Alfie so he understood everything too,” Valente said. The resulting conversation, captured by Valente in a video posted to her TikTok @tcav66, made for heartwarming viewing.
“Don’t try to run away anymore,” Jack tells Alfie on the video, “because mommy needs to see you. That’s it. She needs to see you, or you won’t be our dog anymore. You’ll be someone else’s and not our dog. So don’t leave. Deal? Deal.” Jack ended the chat by lifting one of Alfie’s paws and shaking it, sealing an agreement to not run away in the process.
The clip had viewers tearing up on social media. “His tiny shaking voice tells me he understands the gravity of the fear and sadness that comes with losing a dog and it’s making me emotional,” one user wrote.
“My guess is the way he’s talking to the dog is the way he is spoken to in times of conflict. Well done, parents,” a second added. As a third user put it: “The gentle parented becomes the gentle parent.”
Alfie, for his part, appears to be hanging on Jack’s every word in the video. He was adopted from Eleventh Hour Rescue, an organization that saves animals from high-kill shelters and finds them homes.
Though he escaped from his home on this one occasion, it would appear Alfie took Jack’s words to heart. “Alfie hasn’t tried to run away since then,” Valente said. “Looks like Jack was pretty persuasive.”
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