A woman caught a boy sneaking into her garage, but when she saw what he was doing on her property, rather than being angry she invited him to come round more often.
Hollie Breaux Mallet, from Louisiana, US, was reviewing footage from her CCTV camera, when she saw the boy hop off his bike, run into the garage and cuddle and play with her pet dog Duchess.
Mallet took to Facebook to extend a formal invite to the child.
"Attn Neighbors," she wrote on 30 May. "Anyone know who this sweet little boy is?
"Every now and then when he rides his bike he will quickly come and love on my dog or play fetch real quick, but always leaves quick like he doesn't know if he should be here.
"I'd like to tell him he's welcome to stay and play, she loves the attention."
Mallet's post was widely shared and before long the boy's mum, Ginger Clement Breaux, came across it and commented that it was her son Josh who had been caught on camera.
"I'm torn with my heart melting that he adores dogs so much AND with feeling upset that his little booty shouldn't be going on someone's property without permission or without me knowing," she wrote.
Breaux explained that the family's pet dog Bella had died in 2015. Bella had been with the family since Josh was two years old, and he was missing having her around.
"Josh talks about your dog all the time," Breux explained to Mallet.
"Every time we pass he looks to see if she was sitting where he could see her. Just didn’t know he was doing things like this.
"Last night when I first saw it, I was torn as a momma being happy and upset because he knows he shouldn’t be on someone’s property, but I wake up this morning more happy that he just absolutely adores dogs so much."
Mallet responded to say that Josh was "so precious".
"I certainly did not want to get him in trouble," she added. "This was a couple weeks ago, just forgot to post it.
"My husband and I had so many laughs over this, once or twice he would just stay at the end of the drive and play fetch with her and her ball, but I guess this day she didn't go and he wanted to love her.
"Please tell him any time he wants to go play with her whether we are home or not, he is more than welcome. With no more little kids at home, I know she loves the attention."
Josh quickly took up the offer and Breaux shared a selfie he took to commemorate his first official playdate with Duchess.
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