Man Not Prepared for Where He Finds Puppy Left Home Alone Out of Crate

A dog owner couldn’t believe what he walked into when coming home after testing how his rescue puppy would do with the crate left open.

Michael Brown felt he was in over his head when he first brought home Cactus as a foster dog from Pups Without Borders. He grew up with dogs but never owned one himself and never envisioned owning one this soon. That is until he learned about Cactus at an event with the animal rescue service in Los Angeles.

He immediately agreed to foster Cactus, thinking it would be short term, but their relationship quickly grew and Cactus became a foster fail.

Brown decided to crate-train the now 8-month-old puppy when he got him back in May, thinking it would keep Cactus safe and out of trouble. The crate was next to his bed, and he gave the dog treats to create a positive association.

“Cactus from the very beginning didn’t mind it,” Brown told Newsweek.

Add in the fact Cactus was well behaved and stayed calm in the crate. Brown wanted to test what would happen if he left the crate door open while he was gone. He expected to enter the house with a destroyed couch or ripped-up toilet paper. Instead, Cactus stayed put in his doggy crate, as he was taught.

Brown’s discovery quickly drew in over 4.6 million views after he posted it to the TikTok account @cactustherescue on August 8. Users were just as stunned to see Cactus happily waiting in his safe space.

To this day, Cactus stays put in the crate, Brown said. He purchased a new, large dog bed, thinking it would bring him out of the crate when he’s home alone. He wanted to make it more comfortable for Cactus, but again Cactus always chose the crate.

Brown also tried leaving the TV on in the living room, but when he learned Cactus didn’t venture into that room, he pivoted to a new plan. He set up a laptop near the crate to entertain him. It’s the least he could do for his well-behaved pup, who continues to stay out of trouble.

The TikTok clip reached over 416,800 likes and 1,716 comments as of Tuesday. Viewers flooded the comments section with praises for the owner and how he created a positive association with the crate and made it “his bedroom.”

“He doesn’t have to but that’s his room! He feels safe in there!” commented one user.

Others can’t get over Cactus, handing him the title of “goodest boy.”

“He’s a smart dog. He knows it’s safe and staying out of trouble that way,” another user said.

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