There’s nothing we love more than a good reunion, especially when it involves soldiers and dogs. These heroic people sacrifice so much — being away from their friends and family for long periods of time and sometimes even risking their lives to serve- – so there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a video of them being reunited with their loved ones.
However, this particular reunion could have ended up not being the happiest, as this little pooch didn’t seem to recognize his owner! There was a very tense moment where we waited with bated breath, but luckily the video has a very happy ending!
Meet Murphy, a pooch who lives in Salem, Ohio with his owner Janna Berger, 20, and her mom and dad. Janna had joined the army and was required to complete ten weeks of basic army training and months of advanced training which meant that she had to be away from her home for a long period of time — almost a year to be precise.
Over time, Murphy would have become so confused as to where Janna had gone, maybe accepting in the end that she wasn’t going to come back.
But she did, and Janna captures her pup’s reaction in an adorable video.
Janna posted the video onto Reddit with the caption, ‘My dog when I got back after almost a year in training,’ and it soon became popular with 19,000 upvotes and over 600 comments. We think one of the best things about Murphy’s reaction is that it’s really unexpected, and we don’t know how the video is going to end!
As Janna walks up toward her dog wearing her army uniform, viewers of the video (and probably Janna herself) were expecting Murphy to run forward and leap on her with affection. But that doesn’t happen, as Murphy seems to be having some trouble remembering who Janna is!
He stands and stares at her from a distance, and every time he runs close he seems to bail out at the last minute and back away again. It’s clearly a tense moment for Janna as she wills for Murphy to recognize her. She told The Daily Mail:
“When he didn’t recognize me at first, I was so heartbroken.”
However, as soon as Janna’s dad suggests that she takes off her hat, something seems to click inside of Murphy — but he still can’t believe his eyes!
Murphy approaches Janna with caution as if he expects her to disappear at any second. He gives her a hesitant lick and allows her to pet him. Suddenly, this little bit of affection from Janna brings all of the memories rushing back and Murphy goes crazy with excitement.
The little dog leaps around ecstatically before rolling onto his back and letting Janna pet his stomach. But the little guy is so excited that he can’t keep still — he has a serious case of the zoomies, and he has to run around to burn off some excitement. It was at this point that Janna must have breathed a massive sigh of relief.
Janna had lived with Murphy for three years before her army training began. She said:
“He’s been the light of my life for over three years now, and I’m hoping to have many more with him by my side.”
Apparently when she’d first left, Murphy had been pining over her and wondering where she was. In Janna’s first letter from her mom, she told her how every day since she’d left, “Murphy waited outside the door to my room for me to come back.”
It’s no surprise that when the pup did eventually recognize her that he was over the moon! The poor little guy must have thought that she was never coming back.
We do love a happy ending. Watch the video below to see Murphy’s adorable reaction!
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My dog when I got back after almost a year in training: from r/MasterReturns
