Sudbury-area dog becomes TikTok star in her new role
It's not everyday you become a ‘big sister,’ let alone to twin-baby girls, but Lucy is loving her new role and doing what she can to help her parents.
The only thing that's making her stand-out however, is Lucy is a dog.
The seven-year-old chocolate lab has been stealing hearts on TikTok as she works to help her parents with the arrival of Lily and Lennon Rheaume.
"It's been about six and a half years," said proud dad Josh Rheaume.
"We got her when she was about six months old, I had time off work because I had been laid off and figured it was a good time to train her."
In videos that have earned, in some cases, that have earned more than a million views, Josh can be seen working with Lucy before the babies arrived.
After their arrival, the new big sibling has been working to help put away toys, fetch milk from the fridge and diapers in the event of a dreaded 'blow out.’
"She's smart, you show her an item and you say the name of the item and she knows it right off the top. She's been very easy to train," Josh said.
The two parents smiled when they were asked about the introduction of Lucy to the girls. They admit it was a bit shocking at first for the middle-aged pooch, who might have gotten her nose out-of-joint at first.
They trained her in hopes of knowing she was going to be a vital part in this process.
"There was some jealousy. We brought the two girls home and she gave us the cold shoulder for a little bit. We thought if we trained her it would help her and help us out," said Josh.
"It's been amazing! At first I think she was expecting them to leave at some point," said mom Kelly Rheaume laughing.
"I don't thing she thought they'd stay over but I think she's adjusted now. It makes me so happy to her with them. It's really cute to see."
Whoever said you can't teach an older dog new tricks, clearly hasn't met Lucy. In one video she can be seen even fetching her dad's puffer while he has the baby on his lap.
"She won't be around forever but we'll enjoy the time we do have her with the girls," said Josh.
The reaction they've gotten has come as a surprise to both mom and dad. It's earned them the attention of even some international media.
"I posted a video, I was about to go to bed and I looked at my TikTok, I noticed I had 20,000 views. I thought that's insane, 20,000 views and I had 80 followers at the time. Woke up, looked at my phone and I had 500,000 views. That climbed up to 1.8 million now for one video and all together, I think I have 2.5 million views with Lucy helping us out," her dad said.
The video now has over two million views.
They describe her as almost human sometimes with a smile that is 100 per cent genuine.
Lucy can even tell the difference between the twin girls.
"She can, that was one of the first things I wanted to teach her," said Josh.
"We couldn't tell, they're not identical, they're fraternal but we can't tell the difference short of a cow-lick on Lily and so when we first introduced Lucy to the girls, why don't we train her to tell the difference so she can help us out and that's what started this whole movement."
She may automatically be man's best friend but she's now head-over-paws over the family's newest additions and enjoying her title as big sister.
You can follow Lucy and the twin’s adventures on Josh’s TikTok account.
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