Best Friends Get Puppies From Same Litter So They Will Grow Up Together

The healthy bond between two Labradors who were brought home by best friends has been applauded by viewers online.

Texas-based Alyssa, and her fiancé Tate, had been wanting to welcome a dog into their family for months. They decided to bring home a black Labrador, now named Beau, from a breeder in 2023. After introducing their best friends to Beau, those pals then set out to adopt Beau's brother, a chocolate Labrador. Alyssa shared a video of the brothers to TikTok on September 10, under the username @blacklab_beau. The clip, which has been praised for showcasing the dogs' healthy attachment to each other, has been viewed more than 11.9 million times.

"The day we got Beau, our best friends came over to meet him," Alyssa, who would prefer to keep her full identity private, told Newsweek. "They loved him so much and decided they needed a pup as well, so they got Beau's brother, Hereford, from the same litter the next day.

"Beau and Hereford are the best of friends and love each other so much," she added.

Labrador siblings, Beau and Hereford, are pictured playing together in a social media video. Beau's owner, Alyssa, told Newsweek that Hereford is being raised by her best friend. Labrador siblings, Beau and Hereford, are pictured playing together in a social media video. Beau's owner, Alyssa, told Newsweek that Hereford is being raised by her best friend. @blacklab_beau

Viewers were able to see the duo as puppies frolicking enthusiastically in Alyssa's front yard, before the clip transitioned to more recent footage of them as older dogs, playing in a lake and going on a number of adventures together.

An overlaid text on the video read: "POV: [Point of view] Your best friends get a puppy from the same litter and they grow up together."

The viral video has the melted hearts of viewers online, amassing more than 2.3 million likes and 6,500 comments in just nine days. Several viewers have referenced how healthy the bond between the brothers appears to be.

"Yay lifelong friends without littermate syndrome," one viewer, @cedarandsurf, said.

Another, @madmaverick96, added: "This is perfect! They don't live together so they don't have littermate syndrome but they still have a best friend."

While adopting puppies from the same litter sounds harmless, it can cause problems for pet owners due to littermate syndrome. The syndrome, according to veterinarian Dr. Anna Foreman, is the unhealthy bond that puppies from the same litter can form when they are raised together.

Foreman, Everypaw Pet Insurance's in-house vet, told Newsweek: "Littermate syndrome is a colloquial term to describe the unhealthy bond that two puppies from the same litter can form if homed together rather than separately.

"When not separated from a littermate during the 8–16-week mark, a puppy can fail to socialize properly with other dogs and humans, and fail to form healthy bonds to any other beings," she added.

Instead, they risk forming an excessively strong bond with their littermate only, leading to separation anxiety on both parts when removed from one another. This does not seem to be the case for Beau and Hereford, who were raised in different homes.

Another viewer, @justausername_10, commented: "It makes me so happy when dogs have friends."

"This is possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen," another, @bmo064, shared.

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.