Woman Leaves Puppy Alone With Phone, Camera Captures What She Does Next

A woman left her tiny puppy alone in front of the phone to see how she'd react, and she didn't disappoint.

Lindsey Patterson, 26, from North Carolina, recently became the proud owner of a Havanese puppy, and regularly shares life with the pup on her TikTok account @linzpatt.

The puppy, Penny, has been part of Patterson's family for two months now, after she surprised her boyfriend, Phil, who had long been wanting a dog—specifically a Havanese.

"I've always loved dogs but wasn't ready until one day it just clicked and I thought it would be so fun to surprise him," she told Newsweek via TikTok.

Since getting Penny, Patterson has had multiple videos of her adorable puppy go viral, and a recent clip on TikTok has proved the most popular yet, racking up over 5.3 million views on the social media platform.

It shows Patterson lying on the floor with the golden-furred puppy and asking the camera: "Can you guys watch my dog for a second?" before she gets up and moves out of shot.

At first, Penny takes no notice, chewing on a dog toy that's almost the same size as her. But then she sees herself in the camera and immediately squares up.

Despite her tiny size, she barks, growls, and doesn't back down at what she may believe to be another dog watching her from the phone. And Penny doesn't stop—until Patterson reappears, telling the camera: "Thanks, that's all."

Penny the Havanese puppy was left alone with the camera and immediately squared up. She barked, growled, and even hit out with her tiny paw. TikTok @linzpatt

Speaking to Newsweek, Patterson called the video "a total accident," as Penny was already barking at the camera and she decided to leave the screen and record what happened.

"It was the first time that I had even recorded her on a front-facing camera where she could see herself," she said, explaining she was following a TikTok trend where people leave friends, kids or animals in front of a camera and ask viewers to keep an eye on them.

"It was a one-take thing, I barely edited it," Patterson said, adding that she simply wanted to keep sharing videos of Penny after the success of a previous video that saw her surprise her boyfriend with the dog.

"That was the first video that gave me the confidence to keep posting, and the barking one [that] I barely put any thought into has done the best of them all! It's amazing how the simplest, joyful things do so well on TikTok," she added.

Penny joined the family two months ago when Patterson surprised her boyfriend with the dog he's always wanted. Since then, the tiny pup has gone viral multiple times for her sweet personality. TikTok @linzpatt

Users on the social media platform loved the clip, which has racked up over 820,000 likes since being shared on September 4, with one writing: "10/10 she's very sassy but I'd definitely watch again."

"I didn't realize we had beef," another user jokingly wrote, while a third added: "Ma'am, he sassed us 6 times, at least."

Patterson, who works with influencers and recently decided to begin making content of her own, said Penny going viral has been "so fun", with strangers on the street even recognizing the dog from her videos.

The Havanese breed is popular with dog owners in the United States, regularly landing around 25th place in the American Kennel Club (AKC)'s annual ranked list of the most popular dog breeds.

"Even just walking down the street I love how happy seeing a puppy makes people, how they remark to their friends and have big smiles," Patterson said. "So to be able to do that on the internet [on] a big scale has made me really happy."

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.