Man Meets Neighbor’s Litter of Puppies, Internet Can’t Get Over One Detail

A video showing one man’s interaction with a litter of adorably fluffy puppies has been garnering attention for altogether unexpected reasons.

Every morning at work, Brandon Crider gets a visit from a gang of very cute furry friends: an eye-catching litter of puppies. On this occasion, he managed to capture the encounter on camera, with the footage shared to TikTok under the handle brandon.kitty.

“They escape every morning and come say hi to me,” Crider told Newsweek. “They have an owner who lives in the house next to the yard. They just like to break out every now and then.”

Crider, who is from Floresville in Texas, drills water wells for a living. It’s not easy work but the daily visit of the young pups provides him with some welcome respite. Studies have highlighted the positive mental impact that can be gleaned from interacting with dogs.

Earlier this year, research published in the journal PLOS One saw 30 adults engage in a series of experiments involving dogs. It began with each participant completing a series of eight activities with a well-trained four-year-old female poodle. The activities ranged from playing and walking to grooming and massaging.

During these activities, researchers measured the brain waves of those participants involved using electroencephalogram tests. They then asked participants to complete a questionnaire on their emotional state.

Researchers found that playing and walking increased the strength of the alpha-band oscillations in the brain, which are thought to indicate stability and relaxation. Grooming and playing, meanwhile, was linked to heightened attention and concentration. On a more general level participants reported feeling significantly less depressed, stressed and fatigued after interacting with the poodle.

Crider certainly got a lift from engaging with the puppies, who bounded over to him, only too happy to be stroked and fussed on. One of the dogs, in particular, caught his eye for being noticeably fluffier than his siblings.

“I don’t really know the owner, but I know he’s nice to the dogs. I’ve had lots of puppies before, but never one that fluffy,” Crider said. “That might be the fluffiest puppy I’ve ever seen.”

Some of that might be down to breeding. According to Crider, their dad is a husky while the mom is a Labrador mix, which goes some way to explaining their appearance.

Yet there was something else about the appearance of one of the dogs on the video that appeared to be garnering the most attention among those watching—one of the dogs has heterochromia or two different colored eyes.

Heterochromia is the result of a lack of the pigment melanin in all or part of one eye. These reduced melanin levels cause one of their eyes to appear blue or bluish-white. Heterochromia in dogs is thought to be hereditary, though it can also occur as a result of an eye injury or other health issue.

One viewer pointed the dog’s eyes out, writing: “fluffy one has heterochromia,” according to another TikToker responding to the comment claiming it’s “actually quite common if one of the parents is either Australian cattle dog or husky.”

Elsewhere, one viewer wrote: “They are all definitely part husky with them eyes,” with a second commenting: “The one with the blue eyes would of been coming home with me, even if I had to pay for it.”

Crider said that, at present, the owner of “Fluffy” and the other young dogs has no plans to sell his pups and that, regardless, he’s not interested in taking on the responsibility.

“He said they’re keeping them all,” Crider said. “I already have a cat so I can’t have a puppy. I just called them fluffy and friends.”

However, he’s more than happy for them to keep paying him a visit and will continue to post videos of his new canine neighbors because, as he puts it, “people like puppy and kitty videos.”

Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to [email protected] with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.